The electors of each state have submitted their votes for president and Joe Biden has won 306 to 232 over incumbent Donald Trump. This year there were no “faithless electors” that voted for someone other than their state’s popular vote winner in the electoral college. In 2016 there were 7 such examples, when 5 democrats and 2 republicans were “faithless”.
The vote comes after a series of failed legal challenges presented by the Trump campaign. This includes the recent lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton directly to the Supreme Court. The lawsuit was dismissed by the Court.
Possible Floor Fight
Some of Trump’s most ardent supporters in Congress are still planning to fight when the electoral college vote is counted on January 6th in a joint session led by Vice President Mike Pence. A challenge may be considered if both a member of the House and a Senator sign on.
However, even if such a challenge were to occur it would only be delaying the inevitable. In such a scenario the House and Senate would separately debate the matter for two hours and vote on it. The House is controlled by Democrats and enough GOP senators have said they would reject such a challenge that it would not succeed there either.
Biden Speaks
Biden spoke after all the elector’s votes were accounted for. “Once again, in America, the rule of law, our Constitution, and the will of the people prevailed,” he said. “Our democracy pushed, tested, threatened, proved to be resilient, true and strong.” Biden also directly remarked on the lawsuit which was dismissed by the Supreme Court.
“This legal maneuver was an effort by elected officials and one group of states to try to get the Supreme Court to wipe out the votes of more than 20 million Americans in other states, and to hand the presidency to a candidate who lost the Electoral College, lost the popular vote, and lost each and every one of the states whose votes they were trying to reverse,” said Biden.
The President-elect continued, saying “It’s a position so extreme we’ve never seen it before. A position that refused to respect the will of the people, refused to respect the rule of law, and refused to honor our Constitution.”
Biden Gives Thanks
Joe Biden also thanked the work of local and state officials and volunteers who worked through the pandemic to uphold the election. He said, “American democracy works because America makes it work at a local level. One of the extraordinary things we saw this year was that everyday Americans, our friends and our neighbors, often volunteers, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, demonstrated absolute courage. They showed a deep and unwavering faith in and a commitment to the law.”
He also addressed the threats and verbal abuse directed at officials and volunteers. “It is my sincere hope we never again see anyone subjected to the kind of abuse and threats we saw in this election. It's simply unconscionable. We owe all these public servants a debt of gratitude. They didn't seek the spotlight," Biden said. "Our democracy survived because of them which is proof once more that it's every day Americans infused with honor, character and decency that is the heart of this nation."
Finally, Joe Biden talked about the “flame of democracy”. “In America, politicians don't take power," he said. "People grant power to them. The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know nothing, not even a pandemic or an abuse of power, can extinguish that flame."
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