By Kaveesha Fernando
WASHINGTON D.C., USA (CWBN)_ The US Electoral College has formally confirmed that Joseph Robinette Biden Jr is the next president of the United States. On Monday (December 14), electors across all 50 states cast their votes and Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 US presidential election. Interestingly, US President Donald Trump won the 2016 US Presidential election by the same number of Electoral College votes as Biden: 306.
Many would be surprised to find that it is, in fact, the electors who select the new US President in a process which takes place long after the popular vote has concluded. While most people are aware that the candidate who wins over 270 Electoral College votes is the person who would win the presidency, what they may not realize is that the formal process was only held just yesterday.
The process does take into consideration the popular vote, albeit in a slightly strange way. State electors are chosen from each contesting party at their respective party convention. They are sent to Washington D.C. for the official vote on the basis of the results of the popular vote: a “blue” state will send more Democratic electors, while a “red” state will send more of their Republican counterparts. The exact number of electors per party to be sent to Washington D.C. are based on the proportion of votes each candidate (and by extension, their party) received at the state level.
Following several nail-biting days last month during which the results of the US election were uncertain, Biden said that democracy prevailed upon confirmation of the news. “In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed,” he stated. The president-elect reiterated several key points he mentioned in his victory speech following the count of the popular vote, including that important work needed to be done as soon as he assumed office and that America needed to become united again.
