Biden Secures Enough Electors to Be President
Election results have now been certified in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., moving Joseph R. Biden Jr. one step closer to the White House. Electors will meet in each state on Monday to cast their votes.
The results reported right after the presidential election were reliable, but they were not official. In the weeks since Election Day, officials in every state have been verifying the vote tallies, a process called certification.
This starts at the county or municipal level, and then a state official or board must review the local certifications and certify the statewide totals. In presidential races, if states certify their results by the so-called safe harbor deadline — this year, it’s Dec. 8 — those results are largely insulated from further challenges.
The Trump campaign’s unsuccessful strategy was to try to delay the certification processes in the key battleground states that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. won. As of Nov. 30, all of those states had certified their results.