US Electoral College vote formalizes Biden victory

Presidential electors in key battleground states cast the votes Monday that will affirm Joe Biden as the nation's next president, a formality that took on added importance this year because of President Donald Trump's refusal to concede he lost his race for reelection.

Monday was the day set by law for the meeting of the Electoral College. Electors were casting paper ballots in gatherings that were taking place in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with masks, social distancing and other virus precautions the order of the day.

Joe Biden cleared the 270-electoral-vote mark to formalize his presidential victory with the state of California's 55 votes.

The voting milestone came late Monday when California electors affirmed Biden's massive 5 million-vote win last month in the nation's largest state.

Julie Pace, the Washington Bureau Chief for the Associated Press, said the vote verification process happens every four years and does not typically garner much attention from the American public.

"That's, of course, different in this election, given the fact that Trump has not conceded and has been challenging the results," Pace said. "So this was actually a really important moment, a moment for Americans to see their democracy at work and to see how this constitutionally mandated process plays out."

Monday was the day set by law for the meeting of the Electoral College. Electors were casting paper ballots in gatherings that were taking place in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with masks, social distancing and other virus precautions the order of the day.

Following weeks of Republican legal challenges that were easily dismissed by judges, Trump and Republican allies tried to persuade the Supreme Court last week to set aside 62 electoral votes for Biden in four states, which might have thrown the outcome into doubt.

The justices rejected the lawsuit on Friday, December 11.

In 32 states and the District of Columbia, laws require electors to vote for the popular-vote winner. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld this arrangement in July.

The results of the Electoral College will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside.

"President Trump says he's going to try to fight for that vote to go in his direction, but there really is no democratic mechanism for that to happen. It would literally be lawmakers overturning the will of voters, the will of the Electoral College if they were to go in another direction here," Pace said. "Given the fact that Democrats hold the majority in the House of Representatives, it's basically impossible to see how this would happen. But certainly we will continue to report and focus on that process now."

Electors almost always vote for the state winner anyway because they generally are devoted to their political parties. There was no reason to expect any defections this year

When all the votes are in, Biden is expected to have 306 electoral votes to 232 for Trump. It takes 270 to be elected. In the popular vote count, Biden topped Trump by more than 7 million votes nationwide.