Thread by @kyledcheney

JUST IN: The first electoral votes have been cast in Vermont. Electors below depicted being sworn in.

politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

"Not my first rodeo," Vermont's secretary of state says from the podium after a quick and easy ceremony that gives Biden-Harris their first three electors votes. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

OMINOUS: Mich. GOP state Rep. Gary Eisen tells a radio interviewer that there's some kind of "Hail Mary" effort underway regarding today's elector ceremony. "It'll be all over the news later," he says and declines to say there won't be violence in Lansing

wphm.net/episode/decemb…

Q: "Can you assure me that this is going to be a safe day in Lansing? Nobody's going to get hurt?"

EISEN: "No. I don't know. Because what we're doing today is uncharted."

Eisen then says it's the state GOP planning whatever "it" is. wphm.net/episode/decemb…

EISEN was removed from his committee assignments over this interview, per GOP legislative leaders:

https://twitter.com/LisaRooseChurch/status/1338510304175648768

One of Trump's electors in Florida tested positive for coronavirus. This should trigger the selection of an alternate (each state has a different process for choosing one, should an elector be unable to attend).

https://twitter.com/MaryEllenKlas/status/1338507897404272641

TO BE CLEAR: There will not be an "alternate" slate of electors sent to Congress, by the Trump campaign or anyone, unless a state legislature, governor or other official state authority sends them. Otherwise random people would be sending slates to Congress in every election.

IN NEVADA electors are meeting via Zoom. State law requires them to vote for Biden/Harris, the deputy secretary of state tells them.

Good mask-wearingbut little distancing as Trump electors cast ballots for him in South Carolina.

politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

Some rogue elector-ing appears to be afoot in GA, per @bluestein

https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/1338522299360800771

@bluestein NEVADA has sent its 6 electoral votes to Biden/Harris. No drama in the livestreamed ceremony.

@bluestein PA and GA have begun their elector ceremonies. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

@bluestein Georgia's Democratic electors sworn in.

@bluestein Stacey ABRAMS was just elected by her fellow electors to preside over the meeting. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

@bluestein NEW: Michigan's Senate leader, Republican Mike Shirkey, says the state's Democratic electors should be able to meet free of intimidation or violence.

"Our feelings, our desires, and our disappointments are subordinate to the health of our democracy and the will of the majority."

GA electors have just cast all 16 presidential votes for Biden. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

PA has completed its electoral ceremony without incident.

But the state GOP just issued a statement suggesting Trump's electors held their own mock vote, which carries no legal force but might, they suggest, keep Trump's legal challenges alive.

https://twitter.com/PAGOP/status/1338540581098807298

PELOSI announces that she has appointed Mattie Scott to cast an electoral vote for Biden. Scott's son was killed by gun violence 24 years ago and she's become an activist on the issue in the decades since.

California, for those wondering has the quirkiest elector appointment rules in the country.

The nominees in each congressional race get to choose their party's electors.

politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

Georgia Republican electors also meeting to cast mock votes for Trump. Again, no legal force here, but they claim it preserves Trump's ability to challenge the elecftion.

https://twitter.com/DavidShafer/status/1338542161932021762

Republican electors met to cast a mock vote for Trump in Wisconsin as well, per the state GOP. The parties all say this is the method sought by the Trump campaign to prevent his legal challenges from being declared moot.

Rep-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene confirms she'll be among the House members challenging Joe Biden's victory on Jan. 6.

It's a doomed effort that so far has no buy-in from any Senate Republicans, but it could cause a delay of a few hours. politico.com/news/2020/11/3…

MICHIGAN has just convened its elector ceremony. This is where the only drama of the day has really centered, though still no expectation that the ceremony itself will be disrupted.

WHITMER now addressing Michigan's electors.

One of Michigan's electors is "unable to attend," Lt. Gov. Gilchrist announces, and says his slot will remain vcacant.

DELETED an earlier tweet. The Michigan electors, after being sworn in, are moving to fill the vacancy created by an elector's absence.

Biden will get his full 306 votes (barring any faithless votes later in the day)

"It's like Jeopardy music," Lt. Gov. Gilchrist says as a chime rings out in the Michigan Senate chamber that, indeed, sounds like Jeopardy music.

HERE'S A NEW ONE: A group in Arizona sent notarized documents to the National Archives attempting to deliver the state's electoral votes for Trump.

It didn't work.

azcentral.com/story/news/pol…

BEST PART OF TODAY SO FAR (minus my typo):

MICHIGAN has cast its 16 votes for Biden. No disruptions or drama. Voting now underway for Harris as VP.

IMPORTANT: Reiterating that despite some claims from Trump camp, there are not "dueling" slates of electors. The mock ceremonies by Republican electors in a AZ, GA, NV, PA, WI and MI have no legal force or relevance.

Footage of Michigan state police stopping Trump-appointed electors from getting into the Capitol:

https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1338569994767101956

"God bless America — and possibly Canada," says Washington State elector Julian Wheeler, presumably debuting Canada's new tourism slogan.

politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

WA was the site of several faithless electoral votes against Hillary Clinton in 2016, including one for Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American and activist.

politico.com/story/2016/12/…

UPDATE: With Biden at 215 electoral votes, he's one California away from crossing the 270-vote threshold. politico.com/story/2016/12/…

Just four states left to go.

Trump will get three more electors from Montana and then he's tapped out at 232.

Biden will get four in Hawaii, seven in Oregon and ... 55 from California to put him at 306.

The TEXAS electors are having quite an afternoon. They're currently considering a resolution criticizing the Supreme Court for how it handled the state's case to overturn the election. The current debate is now on whether accusing the justices of "moral cowardice" is too strong.

TRUMP has now maxed out his electors at 232, earning three from Montana. All remaining votes are marked for Biden, who sits at 240.

The vote to amend the Texas resolution passes. The electors are now set to declare that "Texas condemns the lack of action by the United States Supreme Court."

But they won't accuse the justices of "moral cowardice."

CALIFORNIA electors calling the roll as the state prepares to give Biden the remaining electors he needs to become president. Lots of congressional spouses/family members amid their ranks thanks to the state's quirky nomination process.

politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

The California electors who will finalize Biden's victory take their oaths. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

IT'S OVER: California cast its 55 electoral votes for Biden. He has gotten 306 to Donald Trump's 232.

All that's left is for the states to transmit them to the National Archives and for Congress to count them up on Jan. 6

politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

Trump's legal challenges were always unrealistic. Now there's virtually no legal route for him..

20-25 House Republicans seem poised to lodge challenges on Jan. 6, but these (like Ds in 2000, 2005 and 2017) will be little more than protest votes.

politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

Also, I have committed the grave sin of takin Hawaii's four electoral votes for granted. Biden will get 306 *assuming* all four Hawaii electors vote for him later tonight.

This is only notable because there's precedent: One of Hawaii's four electors in 2016 broke from Hillary Clinton, choosing Bernie Sanders / Liz Warren for president and VP instead.

FINAL UPDATE: Monday's Electoral College process was largely drama-free, belying the fierce effort by Trump to overturn it.

Now the process moves to Congress for a final certification and the last gasps of Trump's resistance to his loss.

politico.com/news/2020/12/1…

ADDENDUM: Some electors were worried Trump might direct followers to protest their meetings or disrupt in some fashion. But even though he’s tweeted virtually every conspiracy theory about the election, he never targeted the electors.

He still hasn’t tweeted about today’s vote.