US Electoral College formally confirms Joe Biden's victory over Trump
16 December, 2020
Democrat Joe Biden on Monday (Dec 14) received the state-by-state Electoral University vote that formally determines the US presidency, all but closing President Donald Trump's floundering campaign to overturn his loss in the Nov 3 election.
California, the most populous state, delivered the 55 electoral votes to Biden on Monday afternoon, officially putting the ex - vice president above the 270 votes had a need to secure the White Property. Based on November's effects, Biden acquired 306 Electoral School votes to the Republican Trump's 232.
Earlier in the day, electors in a number of major battleground declares where Trump has unsuccessfully sought to invert the results - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - as well voted for Biden, who's set to consider office on Jan 20 alongside jogging mate Kamala Harris.
Traditionally a formality, the Electoral College vote - set for Monday simply by federal law - assumed outsized significance as a result of Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud.
There was next to no possibility that Monday's voting would negate Biden's triumph and, with Trump's legal campaign to invert the results failing, the president's dim hopes of clinging to power relax with persuading Congress not to accept Monday's electoral vote during a Jan 6 special session - an attempt that is nearly certain to fail.
Once in office, Biden faces the challenging process of fighting the coronavirus pandemic, reviving the US economy and rebuilding relations frayed with US allies abroad by Trump's "America First" policies.
THREATS OF VIOLENCE
In Arizona, at the start of the electors' meeting there, the state's Democratic secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, said Trump's claims of fraud had "resulted in threats of violence against me, my office, and those in this room today", echoing related reports of threats and intimidation in different states.
"While there will be those people who are upset their prospect didn't win, it really is patently un-American and unacceptable that today's event ought to be anything less than a great honoured tradition placed with satisfaction and in celebration," Hobbs said.
Several Trump supporters called on Facebook for protests all day on Monday beyond your talk about Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, one of the hardest-fought claims where Trump lost.
But by early on afternoon only a handful had gathered, including Bob Ray, 66, a retired structure worker. He held a sign that read: "buy a forensic audit," "save America" and "stop communism".
Under a complicated system dating back to the 1780s, a prospect becomes US president not by winning most the popular vote but through the Electoral College program, which allots electoral votes to the 50 states and the District of Columbia generally based on how big is their population.
Electors are typically party loyalists who also represent the winning candidate in their state, apart from Maine and Nebraska, which allocate a few of their Electoral College votes based on which candidate earned each of the states' congressional districts.
While there are sometimes a small number of "rogue" electors who vote for someone apart from the winner of their state's popular vote, the vast majority rubber-stamp the results.
Trump said late previous month he would leave the White Home if the Electoral University voted for Biden, but has since pressed on along with his unprecedented campaign to overturn his defeat. On Monday, he repeated a series of unsupported promises of electoral fraud.
"Swing States that contain determined massive VOTER FRAUD, which is normally every one of them, CANNOT LEGALLY CERTIFY these votes since complete & correct without committing a severely punishable crime," he wrote on Twitter.
TRUMP'S GAMBIT
Trump had called on Republican express legislators to appoint their own electors, essentially ignoring the definitely will of the voters, but lawmakers mainly dismissed the idea.
"I fought hard for President Trump. Nobody wanted him to win a lot more than me," Lee Chatfield, Republican speaker of the Michigan Home of Representatives, said in a affirmation. "But I love our republic, as well. I can't fathom risking our norms, traditions and institutions to pass an answer retroactively changing the electors for Trump."
Once the Electoral College vote is complete, Trump's sole remaining gambit is always to persuade Congress not to certify the count on Jan 6.
Any attempt to prevent a state's results, and thus change the entire US tally, need to earn majority approval from both chambers of Congress that evening. Democrats control the home of Representatives, while enough Republicans in the Senate own acknowledged Biden's victory to ensure any challenge may likely fail.
In 2016, Trump earned the Electoral University despite losing the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by practically 3 million votes. The formal vote received extra focus when some Democratic activists needed electors to "choose rogue" against Trump. In the end, seven electors broke ranks, an unusually lot but still far too few to sway the results.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com