WASHINGTON (AP) – The Electoral College on Monday confirmed Joe Biden as the country’s next president, acknowledging November’s victory by officially rejecting President Donald Trump’s state-by-state rejection of what he had lost.
For Trump’s 232, presidential voters gave Biden a firm majority of 306 votes, the same amount Trump boasted of as a landslide when he won the White House four years ago.
There was greater security in some states as voters met with paper ballots to keep the order of the day with masks, social exclusion and other contagious precautions. The results will be sent to Washington and will be chaired by Vice President Mike Pence at a joint meeting of Congress on January 6.
For all of Trump’s unsupported fraud claims, There was little suspense and no change as every election vote allotted to Biden and the President in last month’s popular vote officially went to every man. On election day, the Democrats topped the current Republican Party with more than 7 million popular votes nationwide.
Pittsburgh topped California’s 55 election votes. Vermont, with 3 votes, first reported. Hawaii was last with 4 votes.
“Again in the United States, the rule of law, our constitution and the will of the people prevail. Our democracy – pushed, tested, threatened – has proven to be flexible, true and strong, ”Biden said in an evening speech. In it he emphasized the extent of his victory and the 81 million people who voted for him.
He renewed his campaign promise to be a president for all Americans, saying that whether they vote for him or not, the country is working hard on the virus and the economy.
But there has been no concession from the White House, where Trump has consistently falsified unsubstantiated allegations.
White House and campaign aides say Trump will invite allies and fellow Republicans to the Oval Office in Washington after sunset to monitor the number of electoral colleges running. The president often ducks to the private dining room outside the Oval Office to watch on TV, complaining that cable networks treat it like a mini-election night, while at the same time not giving in to any of his challenges.
The president was increasingly frustrated by the size of the “Stop the Steel” rallies across the country and the GOP’s efforts to field its own voters in the states. The president’s preference for strict administrative security led to early morning television appearances on Monday, when one of his toughest lawyers, Stephen Miller, sought to underestimate the importance of the electoral college vote, suggesting that Trump’s legal challenges would continue until Jan. 20.
He took to Twitter just before Christmas to announce that Attorney General William Barr was leaving the administration. Amid lingering tensions over Trump’s unsupported fraud claims, Barr told the Associated Press this month in particular that the election results would not be affected by any fraud.
In a Fox News interview recorded over the weekend, Trump said, “I’m worried about the country having an illegal president, and I’m worried about that. Badly lost and badly lost president. ”
In Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Monday – the six war-torn states where Biden won and Trump ran – voters cast their ballots for Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris in less important action. Nevada voters met via zoom due to corona virus infection.
Trump’s attempts to undermine the election results have also led to concerns about voter safety, which was unheard of in previous years. In Michigan, lawmakers from both parties said they received threats and legislative offices were closed over threats of violence. Biden won the state by 154,000 votes or 2.8 percent more than Trump.
Georgia State Police were in operation at the State Capitol in Atlanta, where Democrat voters promised to meet Biden. No protesters were found.
Although the Electoral College confirmed Biden’s victory, some Republicans refused to acknowledge that reality. Yet their opposition to Fiden has had no practical effect on the electoral process, with the Democrats set to take office next month.
Republicans who were Trump voters met anyway in the few states where Biden won. Republicans in Pennsylvania have said they gave a “practical vote” to Trump and Pence in the courts, which have repeatedly rejected challenges to Biden’s victory.
In North Carolina, Utah and other states across the country where Trump won, his voters duly voted for him. Voters in North Carolina checked their temperature before being allowed to enter the Capitol to vote. Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes resigned as a Trump voter and was isolated after he was exposed to someone with COVID-19.
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who defeated Trump four years ago, are one of New York’s 29 voters for Biden and Harris.
In New Hampshire, 13-year-old Brighton Harrington led the group before four state voters voted for Biden at State House in Concord. At the Democratic National Convention in August he delivered a moving speech on the struggle with the dilemma he shares with Biden.
Following several weeks of Republican legal challenges that were easily dismissed by judges, Trump and Republican allies last week sought to set aside 62 election votes for Biden in four states in the Supreme Court, which may have cast doubt on the results.
The judges rejected the attempt Friday.
The Electoral College was the result of a compromise between those who supported the election of the President by popular vote during the drafting of the Constitution and those who opposed giving the people the power to directly elect their leader.
Each state receives the same number of voters as its total seats in Congress: two senators and a number of members in the House of Representatives. Washington, D.C. has three votes under the 1961 constitutional amendment. With the exception of Maine and Nebraska, states give all of their electoral college votes to those who win the popular vote in their state.
The deal struck by the country’s founders has produced five elections in which the president did not win the popular vote. Trump is the most recent example in 2016.
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Associated Press writer Jonathan Lemaire and AP writers from across the United States contributed to this report.