Process to get President-elect into office
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Stopping President-elect Joe Biden from assuming office remains a long-shot strategy for Republicans.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
WASHINGTON • Members of the United States Electoral College were yesterday set to gather in their respective states to cast their official ballots for president.
Ordinarily, the process is little more than a formal duty to rubber-stamp the results of the November election. Not this year.
For weeks, US President Donald Trump and his allies have pressured Republican officials to ignore the popular vote in close-fought states won by President-elect Joe Biden and appoint their own electors who would favour Mr Trump.
They have also asked courts to hand victory to the President in states he lost.
But judges and Republican state lawmakers have shown little appetite for subverting the democratic process.
HOW DOES THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTING SYSTEM WORK?
The electors cast their votes for president and vice-president via paper ballot.
Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia legally require their electors to choose whoever won the state's popular vote.
The other 17 states do not "bind" their electors, meaning they can vote for whomever they choose.
The electors were chosen by state parties, meaning, if Mr Biden won a state, for example, the Democrats' slate of electors casts the votes.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Congress officially counts the votes in a joint session held in the House Chamber on Jan 6, with Vice-President Mike Pence presiding.
Mr Pence opens the certificates of the voting results from each state and presents them to four "tellers", two from the House and two from the Senate, who count the votes.
When Mr Biden reaches a majority with 270 votes, Mr Pence announces the result.
The session cannot be ended until the count is complete and the result publicly declared. At this point, the election is officially decided.
The only remaining task is the inauguration on Jan 20.
WHICH CONGRESS RUNS THE PROCESS?
Since the new members will be sworn in on Jan 3, the next Congress will conduct this joint session.
Democrats will hold control of the House.
Republicans will control the Senate, regardless of the results of the Georgia run-off elections on Jan 5, because Mr Pence will still be in office to act as the tie-breaking vote if the Chamber is split 50-50.
CAN CONGRESS MEMBERS BLOCK THE RESULTS?
No debate is permitted during the counting of the electoral votes. But after the result is read, Congress members get one opportunity to lodge their concerns.
Any objection to a state's results must be made in writing and be signed by at least one senator and one member of the House. The two Chambers then separate to debate the objection.
Each member of Congress can speak only once - for five minutes - and after two hours, the debate is cut off.
Each body then votes on whether to reject the state's results.
CAN CONGRESS CHANGE THE OUTCOME?
Stopping Mr Biden from assuming office remains a long-shot strategy for Republicans.
For an objection to stand, it must pass both Houses of Congress by a simple majority. If the vote followed party lines, Republicans could not block Mr Biden's victory.
Democrats control the House, so an objection would already be doomed there.
In the Senate, Democrats would need to pick off only a couple of Republicans to side with them to vote down the objection. A number of Republican senators have already declared Mr Biden the president-elect.
NYTIMES