What to know about Electoral College vote count on Jan. 6
The U.S. House of Representatives chamber in Washington in 2008. Credit: Getty Images / Brendan Hoffman
The final date on the electoral calendar before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president on Jan. 20 comes Jan. 6 when Congress meets in a joint session to formally count the votes of the Electoral College.
The process, required by the U.S. Constitution, is largely ceremonial and generally occurs with little fanfare.
But with President Donald Trump continuing to falsely claim victory in the Nov. 3 election — despite dozens of legal losses that sought to overturn the outcome — and his congressional allies planning to challenge the votes in several key swing states, the certification of the electoral votes may become a spectacle.
Here's what is expected to happen and the answers to some critical questions:
How does this process work?
How does this process work?
The process began Jan. 3, during the first meeting of the new 117th Congress, when the certification of election results from each state's governor is transmitted to both houses.
On Jan. 6 at 1 p.m. — a date and time set in law — the Senate and House of Representatives will meet jointly to open and count certificates of electoral votes from the 50 states and the District of Columbia, in alphabetical order. Vice President Mike Pence, who serves as president of the Senate, is the presiding officer of the session.
House and Senate leaders will appoint two "tellers" from each chamber to read the certificates. Once the votes have been read, they will be recorded and counted by the tellers.
The candidate who reaches 270 electoral votes is the winner. The states have already counted their own electors, with Biden defeating Trump 306 to 232.
Can lawmakers object and attempt to challenge the election results?
Can lawmakers object and attempt to challenge the election results?
Yes, during the session, any member may object to the results from any individual state.
Here's how it works: Once the certificates are read, the presiding officer will ask if there are any objections. An objection must be made in writing, signed by at least one member of the House and Senate and provide grounds for the challenge.
If that burden is met, each chamber will meet separately to consider it with debate limited to no more than two hours. Each member can speak only once and for no more than five minutes.
The Senate and House will then each vote whether to sustain the objection. If a simple majority does not agree to the objection, it fails, and the electoral votes are counted.
Will Republicans object to the results?
Will Republicans object to the results?
It appears so. A coalition of at least 12 Republican senators have said they will challenge the election's outcome by voting to reject electors from some states.
Those senators, led by Ted Cruz of Texas, said they will vote against certain state electors unless Congress appoints an electoral commission to immediately conduct an audit of the results.
Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has said more than 100 GOP members of the House were planning objections to six states won by Biden — creating the potential for 12 hours of debate.
Has this been done before?
Has this been done before?
Yes, most recently in 2005 by then-Sen. Barbara Boxer of California and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio, both Democrats, who objected to electoral votes from Ohio. The objections, which cited voting irregularities, were rejected and the state's electoral votes were awarded to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
After Trump's 2016 election win, several Democratic House members moved to challenge the results but were not joined by a senator.
Are the challenges likely to be successful?
Are the challenges likely to be successful?
Almost certainly not. It seems unlikely that Republicans, even if they win a pair of Senate runoffs in Georgia, will have the votes to throw out any state's electoral votes. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has asked GOP senators not to object to the election results while several other Republican senators have said they will not support the effort.
The senators led by Cruz acknowledged they are unlikely to change the results.
Meanwhile, Democrats continue to control the House and objections in the lower chamber will likely get voted down.
With AP
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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