Donald Trump's presidential victory was made official Tuesday as voters in the Electoral College convened in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to cast their ballots.
Trump received 312 electoral votes to 226 for Vice President Kamala Harris. Each state's electoral votes are equal to the number of representatives they have in the House, plus the state's two senators.
The event was a stark contrast to 2020, when alternate electors for Trump convened in seven states that he lost, even though results in those states were certified for Joe Biden. That led to state criminal charges filed against alternate electors in several of those states.
The use of alternate electors also was part of Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's prosecution of Trump for trying to subvert the results of the 2020 election, charges that were dropped after Trump's victory over Harris in November.
After the Electoral College votes are signed and certified, they are sent to, ironically, Harris, acting as the president of the Senate, and the national archivist, according to a National Archives timeline. The voting certificates must be received by the fourth Wednesday in December, which this year is Christmas Day. The archivist then transmits the sets of certificates to Congress on or before the new Congress meets on Jan. 3.
In a mostly ceremonial move, Congress will meet in a joint session Jan. 6 to count the Electoral College votes, overseen by Harris. The certification process was delayed on Jan. 6, 2021, by the events at the U.S. Capitol but was eventually completed.
After the votes are counted, Harris will announce the winner of the election. Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance will take the oath of office at the inauguration at noon on Jan. 20.
The Electoral College was established in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Constitution and reformed by the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804. But many Democrats are against it because they believe presidential elections should be decided by the popular vote. Republicans won the presidency in 2000 and 2016 despite not winning the national popular vote. Trump won the popular vote this year by about 2.2 million votes.
Democrat Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and Peter Welch of Vermont – representing states Harris won in November – on Monday introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College.
"In an election, the person who gets the most votes should win. It's that simple," Schatz said in a news release. "No one's vote should count for more based on where they live. The Electoral College is outdated and it's undemocratic. It's time to end it."
Several similar resolutions have been proposed, and one even passed the House with the requisite two-thirds majority in 1969. But the threshold requires both chambers of Congress to each pass it with a two-thirds majority, plus three-fourths of the state legislatures. Given the current political climate, it appears unlikely such a measure would gain traction nationwide.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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