'Democracy prevailed': Joe Biden passes 270-vote threshold to win Electoral College
WASHINGTON – The Electoral College elected Joe Biden as the next president Monday, formalizing the former Democratic vice president's win in the Nov. 3 election as President Donald Trump continues a long-shot effort to try to overturn the outcome.
Around 5:30 p.m. EST, California's 55 electors cast their ballots to push Biden over the 270-vote threshold needed to win.
Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, the vice president-elect, received 306 electoral votes overall, topping Trump’s 232 votes. Next, the electoral votes will be counted at a special joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 before Biden and Harris are inaugurated Jan. 20.
"Respecting the will of the people is at the heart of our democracy even when we find those results hard to accept," Biden said following the Electoral College vote, giving an impassioned defense of his election win as Trump refuses to concede.
"In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed," said Biden, who reeled off the numerous recounts and court decisions that upheld his victory. "We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And so now it is time to turn the page, to unite, to heal."
The Electoral College met as American democracy faced an unprecedented test by Trump’s attempts to overturn the election through a barrage of lawsuits that failed in battleground states he lost. Some Senate Republicans circled the date as the moment they would finally acknowledge Biden as president-elect, and several did after the vote.
Republicans in states Trump lost pose as alternative electors
But as 538 electors gathered in statehouses or virtually to cast their ballots based on the popular votes of their states, the president's allies moved ahead on another effort to overturn the election. Republicans in contested states that Biden won – including Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada – met separately and posed as alternate slates of electors whose votes for Trump they planned to also submit to Congress.
More: 'The moment of truth': The Electoral College prepares to hand Trump the loss he refuses to accept
Historically, the Electoral College meeting is a formality given little attention. But Trump's persistent efforts to overturn the results magnified the gatherings, which spanned from the morning until Monday evening. Democratic electors met in states Biden won, and Republican electors convened in states Trump won. None of the certified electors bucked the will of their states' voters.
“The people have spoken, and we respect the majesty of the democratic system,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, quoting President George H.W. Bush as she kicked off the meeting in Pennsylvania, among six states Trump has contested. “Your participation today in this Electoral College proves once again the durability of our Constitution and the majesty of our democracy."
A few Electoral College meetings attracted small protests by Trump supporters, who repeated unproven claims by Trump and his allies of widespread voter fraud. Their arguments that the election was stolen have not been supported by evidence. In Lansing, Michigan, Republicans showed up at the Capitol, calling themselves the electors who should get to vote. A security officer blocked their entrance.
"I'm not going to get into a political debate," the officer said. "I'm following orders."
Results are 'final,' Michigan governor says
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, opened the state's Electoral College meeting before 16 electors voted for Biden and Harris. Whitmer said Michigan chose a "clear winner" for president after a "safe, fair and secure election," adding it was the kind of election the Founding Fathers envisioned.
"After today, the results will be final," said Whitmer, a frequent critic of Trump. "It's time to move forward together as one United States of America. Now is the time for us to put this election behind us and to focus our efforts together to defeat our common enemy: COVID-19."
In last month's election, under the electoral system, Americans voted to appoint electors pledged for Biden, the Democratic nominee, Trump, the Republican nominee, or nominees of third parties to formally vote for president. A state's population determines its number of electors.
These electors are mostly party activists – in some cases state lawmakers, Congress members or even governors – appointed by state parties this year.
“We made it,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democratic elector, said after he announced the state's 10 electors voted for Biden and Harris. Biden won Wisconsin, among the states disputed by Trump, by 20,608 votes.
Arizona meets in secrecy amid threats
In Georgia, a state Trump targeted even as two recounts reaffirmed Biden's win by about 12,000 votes, former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams presided over the state's first meeting of Democratic electors since 1992.
"We stand not for ourselves and not for our party but for the voters of Georgia," said Abrams, a Biden elector, voting rights advocate and the former minority leader in Georgia's House of Representatives. "It is on their behalf that we took up this charge to be electors."
In Arizona, won for the first time by Democrats since 1996, 11 electors met at an undisclosed decision. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, attributed the secrecy to the "artificial shadow" hanging over the election from "baseless accusations of misconduct and fraud." She said it's "led to threats of violence against me, my office and those in this room today."
More: Arizona's electors cast state's 11 votes for President-elect Joe Biden
Calling the election "likely the beginning of a lengthy debate about how to reclaim faith in our democratic institutions," Hobbs said the 11 electors took an oath to support and defend the Constitution.
“That is what we have done this year in this election,” Hobbs said. “And while there will be those who are upset their candidate didn't win, it is patently un-American and unacceptable that today's event should be anything less than an honored tradition, held with pride and in celebration.”
Trump adviser outlines next move
Electors cast their votes for president and vice president on separate ballots. They signed six vote certificates, one to be delivered to Vice President Mike Pence as president of the U.S. Senate, two to the state's secretary of state, two to the U.S. archivist and one to a federal judge in the district of the meeting. Most electors voted without saying a word. Others gave short speeches.
"I’m honored to cast my Electoral College vote to confirm a team that will work to repair our image and lead us into a brighter future," said Lauren Beth Gash, an Illinois elector for Biden and a former state lawmaker.
Before the meetings got underway, Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller previewed the Trump-backed strategy to submit votes from competing slates of electors to Congress.
“We have more than enough time to right the wrong from this fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election,” Miller said on Fox News. “As we speak today, an alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote, and we’re going to send those votes up to Congress. This will ensure all of our legal remedies will remain open.”
Although Trump failed to convince lawmakers in states he lost such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia to certify their own separate slates of Trump electors, Trump backers in these states convened on their own to pose as electors and cast votes for president.
More: Fake electors try to deliver Arizona's 11 votes for Trump
A group that claimed to represent the "sovereign citizens of the Great State of Arizona" submitted signed papers casting votes for what they want: a second term for Trump and Pence.
Similar actions in Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada would send votes from separate slates of unofficial Trump electors to Congress, which will hold a joint session Jan. 6 to count “all the certificates and papers purporting to be certificates of the electoral votes.” U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama is leading an effort to reject the electoral votes submitted by some swing states Biden won.
GOP senators start calling Biden the president-elect
Legal experts said such maneuvering would probably amount to little more than theater.
Ned Foley, director of the election law program at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, said a rival submission of electoral votes would lack the support to move forward. The House, controlled by Democrats, would quickly shoot down the attempt, he said, and enough Republican senators would probably oppose the move as well.
Any objections on Jan. 6 would require support from one House member and one senator to be considered. The two chambers would meet separately to vote on any disputes.
It's unclear whether any Senate Republicans will back such an effort. Some were ready to call Biden the president-elect following the Electoral College vote.
"I think he's president-elect subject to whatever additional litigation is ongoing," Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said, calling it a "bad mistake" if House Republicans object to the electoral votes of some states.
Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said in a statement, "Although I supported President Trump, the Electoral College vote today makes clear that Joe Biden is now President-elect."
And Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who chairs the congressional committee in charge of inaugural proceedings, told reporters his committee would start working with Biden.
"We've meet the constitutional threshold and we'll deal with Vice President Biden as the president-elect," he said.
Contributing: William Cummings and Nicholas Wu.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris win Electoral College after states meet Monday
