Joe Biden to become the 46th President of the US, electors decide

Electors across the USA confirmed Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States on Monday, December 14.

Joe Biden won the US election 306 electoral votes to Donald Trump’s 232.

The newly-elected president gave a short speech shortly after saying that it is “time to turn the page” and praised the “ordinary men and women” had refused to be bullied, referring to the efforts to overturn the result.

He also spoke of the “flame of democracy” and that “not even a pandemic or an abuse of power can extinguish that flame.”

Donald Trump has yet to comment on Biden’s victory in the election college.

He has however tweeted about the resignation of Attorney General William Barr, who recently said that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud

Normally, this process is a rubber stamp on an already confirmed victory.

However, this year it has gained extra attention.

This is because Donald Trump has yet to concede to Joe Biden, despite failing legal challenges in numerous states.

Two cases about election fraud were sent to the Supreme Court, however they were refused.

Despite saying last month, he would leave office if the electors voted for Biden, Donald Trump has shown no signs of conceding.

He will continue with his court cases and he even held his own electoral college to claim victory.

Republicans appointed as ‘alternate electors’ voted in favour of the President to win the electoral college; however, these results have no legal standing.

The next step is on January 6, where Congress will formally count the results.

This means that Trump’s latest efforts will be to now be focused on convincing Congressmen to vote in favour of his electors.

However, even this won’t work.

The Democratic Party has a majority in the House of Representatives, and they will not overturn the results.

Enough Republicans have signalled they won’t vote to overturn the results in the Senate either.

Michigan Republican Paul Mitchell has left the party in protest over Trump’s actions to change the result.

However, even if a deadlock were to occur, federal law would mean that the results wouldn’t be changed.

It states that in any deadlock then the electors sent by the state governors are the ones chosen.

This means that the ones sent to vote for Biden would win. This means any efforts made by Trump and his team is doomed to fail.

Donald Trump will have to leave the White House on January 20, 2021 to allow President Joe Biden to come in.

By Kieran Burt

Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore on Flickr

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