UPDATE: As of Monday, November 16, 2020, Joe Biden has 290 Electoral votes to President Trump’s 232.
Popular vote stands at 78.8 Million for Biden (51%) and 73.2 Million for Trump (47.3%).
The state of Georgia is conducting an automatic recount, consistent with their state regulations, with Biden leading by 14,155 votes (49.5%).
Although many supporters of our sitting president are still holding out for a possible miracle, President-Elect Joe Biden gave his victory speech on Saturday, November 7, 2020 stating he would serve all Americans, even those that did not cast a vote for the Democratic ticket.
A president-elect of the United States is the person who conclusively appears to have won a presidential election, but has yet to take office.
In the past, a presumptive winner has normally been called on Election night, as states announce election results, once a candidate has garnered at least 270 electoral votes to secure a win.
According to number reported by the Associated Press, Biden has earned 290 electoral votes to President Donald Trump’s 214 electoral votes.
The popular vote (as our newspaper goes to press on Monday, November 9th) currently stands at 75.6 Million votes for Biden, and 71 Million votes for Trump.
This year, it took four days following Election night for a president-elect to be announced.
First, the race between President Trump and former the former vice-president Biden was extremely close in several states, in some cases as close as two-tenths of a percent.
Second, a huge number of voters opted to vote by mail-in ballot – much more than normal – because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
These are paper ballots that take time to process, and the sheer volume had some states still opening ballot envelopes at the end of the week.
Plus, some states required that elections workers wait until Election Day before even starting to count these votes, even though ballots were mailed in and received weeks prior.
And, some states were required to continue receiving mail-in ballots for several days after, so long as they were postmarked by Election Day.
It is important to note that each state is charged with determining how elections are to be run in their respective states.
This includes the type of machines used, voting software, method for registering votes, deadlines for accepting mail-in ballots, and so on. These regulations must also meet federal guidelines and coincide with established calendar dates.
While most states have reported 98 to 99 percent of their votes for this year’s presidential election, some are still counting this week.
However, once each state certifies their election returns, electors will be appointed based on the popular vote. State deadlines for reporting official results range from November 5 to December 11, 2020.
Also varying across states are specific requirements for electors.
In some states, electors are bound by State law to cast their votes according to their state’s popular vote. In others, electors are bound by pledges to their political party.
The Electoral College will meet in mid-December to cast their votes, which will be opened publicly in early January in front of a joint-session of Congress.
Inauguration Day will be held on January 21, 2020, at which time the new President of the United States will be officially sworn in.
As the process continues over the next several months, President Trump has declined to concede the race, and states that his attorneys will be filing a series of lawsuits disputing the returns in several states.
The 2020 election has certainly been one for the books.
