Elections

Election 2020: All 50 states and DC have certified their results, with the Electoral College voting Monday

Published

12 months ago

December 10, 2020

Staff Writer

All 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have officially certified their presidential election results, with the final state, West Virginia, certifying its results on Wednesday.

On Monday next week, the Electoral College will convene in Washington, DC to cast their votes for president, declaring an official winner of the contentious one-of-a-kind 2020 election. After which, the electors’ votes will later be transmitted to officials and tallied in a joint session of Congress on January 6.

Coupled with that, President-elect Joe Biden also has enough electoral votes to successfully secure his victory, with the Associated Press giving him 306 Electoral College votes to President Donald Trump’s 232. Some faithless electors, however, could theoretically shake that up, but experts say it’s unlikely. The 2016 election saw an unusually high number of electors break ranks with their state delegations and casting their votes for individuals who were never candidates, but ultimately these electors had no impact on changing who won that election.

Additionally, the General Services Administration (GSA) officially started the presidential transition a few days before Thanksgiving and, starting in November, Biden’s transition team has been announcing the president-elect’s cabinet and administration appointments each week.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump refuses to concede the election as his team and supporters continue to launch lawsuits in multiple swing states, alleging widespread election fraud. Of the dozens of lawsuit that have been launched since November 3, none have been successful in changing the election results in any state.

In recent days, some more lawsuits seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election have been filed. In fact, 17 states have joined Texas to have the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin investigated.

The president’s support among Republican politicians in his post-election legal fights has been gradually waning as the lawsuits keep falling flat and as the states pushed forward in certifying their results.

Reports have been circulating that Trump might run for president again in 2024 and that Trump is allegedly planning not to attend Biden’s swearing-in ceremony on January 20 and will instead host a political rally in Florida, possibly announcing a 2024 bid that day. This would make him the first president since 1869 to skip his successor’s inauguration and the fourth president in U.S. history to do so.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

Elections

Biden’s Poor Polling and Harris’ Low Electability Rating Could Have Democrats Considering ‘Nuclear Option’

Behind-the-scenes discussion of how Democrats could arrive at a third option for the next election is underway

Published

4 days ago

December 1, 2021

Staff Writer

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

With polls consistently showing a poor approval rating for President Joe Biden at below 40 percent, and a recent poll put Kamala Harris’ electability at only 28 percent, Democrats are in full panic mode.

“Behind-the-scenes discussion of how Democrats could arrive at a third option for the next election is underway. Operatives are preparing for the possibility of a contested presidential primary in which other would-be nominees take on Ms. Harris, but that could be damaging for the party” reports the Telegraph.

Therefore, Democrats are allegedly whispering about a potential “nuclear option” that would call for current Vice President Harris to be nominated to the Supreme Court. The Telegraph writes that “while the scenario is highly improbable, and perhaps a reflection of a Washington rumor mill in overdrive, the fact it has come up at all shows the depths of the predicament the Biden administration currently finds itself in, amid rising inflation, a stalled domestic agenda, and foreign policy disasters.”

The theory in question would call for President Biden to nominate Harris to the Supreme Court in the event a seat opens in the next three years during his administration. Biden could then use “Section 2 of the 25thAmendment to nominate a more popular vice president”, adds the Telegraph.

Under Section 1 of the 25th Amendment, that new vice president could assume the presidency if Biden were to step down while president. They would then become the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential election. That same individual could also be the presumptive Democratic nominee in 2024 if Biden chooses not to run for re-election.

One piece of information that is wetting Democrats’ whistle is that current Supreme Court Justice Breyer has said he does not “want to stay on the Supreme Court until I die.”

The Telegraph notes that “the discussion over potential successors to Mr. Biden is highly unusual less than a year into an administration.”