Breaking: It Is Done -- President Biden ..

Electoral college confirms Joe Biden's presidential victory
Published 1 hour ago | BBC

Members of the US electoral college have affirmed Joe Biden's presidential election victory, one of the final steps required for him to take office.

The Democrat won November's contest with 306 electoral college votes to Republican Donald Trump's 232.

Under the US system, voters actually cast their ballots for "electors", who in turn, formally vote for candidates weeks after the election.

Despite this process, President Trump is not expected to accept the result.

Normally the electors do not get that much attention but this year, due to Mr Trump's persistent efforts to question and overturn the results - involving legal challenges which have been rejected by courts across the country - the state-by-state vote was in the spotlight.

Solidly Democrat California, with its 55 electors, was one of the last states to vote on Monday and took Mr Biden across the 270-vote threshold required to win the presidency.

Heightened security had been put in place in some states, including Michigan and Georgia, ahead of voting, which took place in state capitals and Washington DC.

In Michigan - a key swing state which Mr Biden won - legislative offices in the state capital Lansing were closed due to "credible" threats of violence.

Can Trump still challenge the result?

Where does the Republican Party go after Trump?

The vote at the capitol building went ahead peacefully although a group of Republicans tried to enter the building to hold their own vote and were turned away.

"The people have spoken. It was a safe, fair and secure election," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who had been the subject of a kidnapping plot thwarted by the FBI earlier this year. "After today, the results will be final."

Who are the electors?

Each political party with a candidate on the presidential ballot nominates or votes on its own slate of electors in the months prior to election day.

Once we know who won a state's popular vote, we know which party will appoint the electors for that state.

The US Constitution only states that electors cannot be members of Congress or others who currently hold federal office. This year, the most famous electors are former President Bill Clinton and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, chosen for the Democrats in New York.

Can you explain the electoral college in 10 seconds?

Electors almost always vote in line with their pledged candidate, although in 2016 some did not and this prompted states to change their laws to try and prevent a recurrence. Analysts say there is next to no chance that Mr Biden's victory could be overturned.

Read more: The people who ultimately pick the US president
The number of electors per state is roughly in line with the size of the population.

What happens next?

The results of the voting process will be sent to Washington DC and formally counted in a joint session of Congress on 6 January presided over by Vice-President Mike Pence.

That will pave the way for Joe Biden to be sworn in as president on 20 January.

Mr Biden plans to address the nation on Monday evening after the electors have voted, his transition team has announced.

He is expected to say that democracy has "prevailed" in the United States, adding: "The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know that nothing - not even a pandemic - or an abuse of power - can extinguish that flame."

Last month, President Trump said he would leave office in January if Mr Biden were affirmed as the election winner by the electoral college. Nevertheless, he has continued to make unsubstantiated claims of election fraud and there are few signs he will concede.

Mike Pence to confirm Biden then leave the country, says report
Gino Spocchia
Thu, December 17, 2020, 7:00 AM MST

Mike Pence could confirm Joe Biden as president-elect when Congress meets in three weeks time, and then leave the country, his aides have said.

The vice-president, who is due to confirm the Democrat’s assent to the United States presidency in a session of Congress on January 6, is believed to be planning on an overseas trip straight after those proceedings.

Three close aides told Politico that Mr Pence would leave the United States for around a week after the vote in Congress, in what appeared to be a bid to avoid Republican scrutiny.

“I suspect the timing is anything but coincidental,” one Pence ally said about the rumoured plans.

In doing so, Mr Pence would also avoid any scrutiny over his position as Donald Trump’s vice-president, as well as Republican backlash - amid allegations the election was rigged against Mr Trump, which have been without basis.

Mr Pence has remained largely silent on such matters, while still supporting Mr Trump’s complaints - and thus has avoided backlash from the president’s supporters.

According to a US government document seen by Politico, Mr Pence will travel to Bahrain, Israel and Poland, with the possibility that more stops are added, in the week between Congress’s vote and Mr Biden’s inauguration ceremony on January 20.

Mr Pence, as vice-president, must announce Mr Biden’s win - and his own loss - in the session of Congress, in what will be an uncomfortable scene for both him and Mr Trump, who continues to deny defeat.

The vote on 6 January also marks the final opportunity for lawmakers in Congress to object to the election outcome, but interventions are uncommon this late in the confirmation process.

It comes after the Electoral College confirmed Mr Biden as the election winner on Monday, in what was a further blow for Mr Trump, and another step towards officially affirming the results of the 2020 race, which Mr Biden won.

Mr Pence will want to avoid the same criticism thrown at the Republican senate leader Mitch McConnell this week, after he congratulated Mr Biden and Kamala Harris on becoming president-elect and vice-president elect on Tuesday.

On Twitter, Mr Trump wrote a day later that “people are angry” and shared an article claiming Mr McConnell was “not a patriot”, while making racist comments about his Taiwanese-born wife, Elaine Chao.

No other details were provided about vice-president Pence’s travel plans, while a Trump administration official told Politico the trip had not been confirmed.