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In a final stage of a bumpy election season, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced his intention to object as Congress formalizes President-elect Biden’s victory a move that threatens to complicate a process that is historically ceremonial.
Each election season is marked by the same conclusion: On Jan. 6, a joint session of Congress officially counts the electoral college’s votes, and then votes to accept the results, formalizing the winner.
Hawley’s announcement sets the stage for Trump loyalists to take advantage of an 1887 law and mount a final challenge to Biden’s victory, even amid warnings from party leaders to drop the issue.
December 10, 2020
The Electoral College is responsible for formally voting for the next president. Their ballots will be cast Dec. 14, and then certified by Congress.
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Weeks after Election Day, attention turns to the Electoral College and its members who are responsible for formally electing the next president. When we go to vote for president in November, we are not actually voting for president. You are casting your ballot for the electors of that person, said Gayle Alberda, an assistant professor of politics at Fairfield University. It used to be a little clear on our ballots where it said, you re voting for the electors of, you know, Joe Biden or the electors of Donald Trump. Our ballots don t say that anymore, said Matthew Weil, the director of the Elections Project for the Bipartisan Policy Center.