Many states have started the US election certification process to confirm Biden’s win. The General Service Administration (GSA) has also accepted Biden’s victory, paving the way for the official transition of power. Now President-elect Joe Biden can ramp up the transition process by selecting people for various administrative positions since he now has the resources.
As Trump’s lawsuits fail, GSA administrator Emily Murphy authorized Biden to initiate the transition process. This is great news for the country, as Biden’s transition will help him plan according to the latest challenges.
The United States presidential elections are conducted through the Electoral College. The winner of the presidential race is usually announced by the media outlets soon after the vote count.
Election results are officially announced after every vote is counted and certified. The candidate has to secure 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. Forty-eight states in the US, except Maine and Nebraska, have a winner-take-all electoral college system.
Joe Biden has unofficially won the required number of electoral votes. After the US election certifications, these electors will meet on December 14 in their respective states to vote for the new president and the vice president.
What are the latest developments in the US election certifications? Let’s have a look.
Biden officially wins Georgia; Trump again cries foul:
The Georgia Secretary of State announced a recount in Georgia after the elections. After that, Georgia spent six days in hand-counting ballots. Georgia has been a Republican stronghold for a long time, but the latest results show that the situation has altered.
As the results were too close, the Secretary of Georgia announced a recount after the initial vote count. The recount has also affirmed Biden’s victory in this swing state.
The Republican Senators, David Perdue, and Kelly Loeffler, who will be facing runoffs for the Senate in January, backed the President, accusing the Secretary of State of mismanagement.
Biden’s victory in Georgia also established hope for the Democrats to capture the two Senate seats in January and establish a majority in Senate.
The recount process revealed a few ups and downs in the several counties, including Floyd, Fayette, Walton, and Douglas.
Biden’s new winning margin is now 12,284 votes, as the recount reduced Biden’s lead by 1200 votes. The state has already certified the election results on Friday. The recount has also suggested that the certification was correct.
The situation is unfolding now, as Trump’s losing margin in the state was just 0.26 %. According to the state laws, if any candidate loses by less than 0.5 percent votes, he/she can ask for a recount two days after certification.
Trump did the same, and now, the latest events suggest that Trump has requested a second recount. These are just tactics of the president to delay the US election certifications. Now officials have to count votes for the third time after the elections, wasting a lot of resources.
However, it is an established truth now that Biden will take Georgia’s electoral votes in his tally.
Pennsylvania all set to give a verdict against Trump:
Pennsylvania is also going to declare a verdict soon against Trump. Many counties have already started issuing election certifications in the November elections, despite Trump’s delaying tactics.
Everyone was expecting that most counties would issue election certification by Monday. However, results have been delayed in many counties. These include Schuylkill County, Westmoreland, Berks, Carbon County, and others.
In recent developments, Pennsylvania rejected Trump’s efforts to stop absentee ballots counting. This has paved the way for many counties, including Philadelphia, to issue election certification.
It is expected that most counties will give a verdict by the end of this week. If they delay too long, the court has to intervene in the certification process. However, despite all the hurdles, the court’s involvement in Pennsylvania seems improbable at this time. President-elect Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes.
Maricopa County Board certifies results:
The five members of the Maricopa County, Arizona Board, have just issued election certification. This has increased the tensions of Trump, who has been making the election results controversial.
The board meeting was streamed live, similar to one held in Wayne County, Michigan. During the meeting, election officials were questioned about the election process and how it went. Maricopa is Arizona’s largest county, and President-elect Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win it since 1948.
Nevada judge throws out a request to reject results:
A Nevada judge finalized the decision on the petition made by the Republican activist Sharron Angle. The petition was seeking to reject the election results based on the accusation of voter fraud in mail-in ballots.
Angle’s lawyer argued that there were discrepancies in the mail-in ballots. The lawyers claimed that 1,400 people voted in Nevada after registering themselves in California. He added that 8,000 of those voters had cast their ballots, who have never voted since 2008.
Judge Gloria Sturman denied the accusations by saying that millions of people cast ballots in Nevada. She further added that results could not be declared unconstitutional only because a few hundred people voted illegally.
She also added that the right thing to do is to report these irregularities to the election officials. Now, if everything goes as planned, the State of Nevada will certify the results on Tuesday.
Biden takes Michigan with official election certification:
Trump’s worries increase as Michigan issued official election certifications in favor of Biden. Now Biden is the official winner of the State of Michigan. With this, all Trump’s lawsuits in Michigan are also of no further use. The key event happened as Aaron Van Langevelde, one of the Republican members of the board, voted with Democrats clearing Biden’s win. On November 3, President-elect Joe Biden has won Michigan’s electorate by more than 148,000 votes.
President Trump’s effort to overturn results failing:
Despite a major loss, the president denies accepting the election results.
It seems that the game is over for President Trump to make the election result controversial. In his last attempt, the president summoned Michigan’s legislative leaders on Friday to ask them to intervene in the certification process. However, with Michigan election certification, Trump has no clue what to do.
The legislative leaders later said that Trump had asked them to intervene in the certification process. However, they denied the request, as they see nothing wrong with the electoral process.
President Trump is now working to convince the legislative leaders of the battleground states. He is expecting them to declare him as the winner despite CISA’s claims that the 2020 elections were the most secure in American history.
Experts suggest that such efforts by the president will have dire consequences for the democracy and political system of the US.
Conclusion
The United States is moving towards the election certification process now. Several states are ready to certify their results before the electors meet in mid-December.
Meanwhile, President Trump is still reluctant to accept the outcome of the election. He is busy finding a way to get another term in the White House despite a historic victory of Joe Biden.
Such fake information and baseless rhetoric of voter fraud from the president are affecting the minds of ordinary Americans. Such behavior is not only dangerous for the president but also for the country. It will only undermine the electoral process, which is the basis of democracy in the United States.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.