US: Pennsylvania casts 20 electoral votes for Joe Biden

Pennsylvania on Monday cast its 20 electoral votes for Democrat Joe Biden, the native son whose win in the state last month cemented his victory over President Donald Trump.

The electors, primarily Democratic elected officials, also chose Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, as vice president. The 20 electors were socially distanced in a cavernous auditorium near the Capitol, meeting there instead of the floor of the state House because of the pandemic.

The Electoral College meeting, normally a formality, drew extra attention this year because of the Trump campaign's baseless claims of a rigged election and its fruitless legal machinations to try to get the results overturned.

Trump loyalists in Pennsylvania held a rival meeting in Harrisburg on Monday and said they cast what they described as a "conditional vote" for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. The state Republican Party said the Trump electors met at the request of the campaign.