Everything today might have left you feeling confused about how, exactly, the Electoral College works and the timeline for determining the President + Vice President. Here’s an explainer I wrote back in August breaking it down and a thread for you 1/ businessinsider.com/how-the-electo…
Nov. 3: The date on which states must appoint their electors to the electoral college, which falls on the 1st Monday after the 1st Tuesday in November. States don't constitutionally or statutorily have to hold popular elections to allocate electors, but today, all do. 2/
The vote count is never truly finalized on Election Day. After Election Day, officials fully canvass and process all absentee, provisional, military/overseas, and otherwise challenged ballots before the results can be officially certified, () 3/
December 8: The "safe harbor" deadline by which states must certify their election results/who they’re appointing their electors for without risking Congress getting involved. This date falls 6 days before electors are set meet across the country and cast their votes 4/
States have a very high incentive to resolve any disputes over election results before the safe harbor deadline for reasons I explain here — this was a major feature of the 2000 Bush v. Gore election dispute and eventual Supreme Court case 5/
businessinsider.com/contested-pres…
December 14: Electors convene in all 50 states + DC to cast their votes for president and send the certificates of their vote to their state’s officials, the National Archives, and the US Senate president. This date is set by law as the 1st Mon after the 2nd Weds in December 6/
January 6: The sitting Vice President, in their capacity as president of the Senate, presides over a joint session of Congress where they do a roll call of the electors from each state and formally certify the final vote, if no members of Congress raise objections 7/
January 20: The president and vice president are inaugurated and sworn into office by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court for the president and another official for the Vice President — VP Pence was sworn in by Jusitce Thomas, for example 8/ end
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