President-elect Joe Biden has received enough electoral votes to officially secure the presidency.
Today’s electoral college vote is usually a procedural step that goes unnoticed. However, it has taken on outsized importance this year as President Trump continues to challenge the election results.
An ordinary, almost bureaucratic practice in other times. But not in an era when Trump was inventing everything to block this well-oiled machine. Despite his accusations – rejected by Republicans themselves in local governments, dismissed by various courts – yesterday’s passage became another test for the United States.
The vote follows six weeks of unprecedented efforts by President Trump to intervene in the electoral process and change the outcome of an election he lost.
“Democracy has won; let’s turn the page. In this battle for the soul of America, democracy has prevailed: the people have voted, our faith in institutions sustained… it’s time to turn the page, to unite, to heal.” Joe Biden thus officially acknowledged his election to the presidency of the United States, which was certified yesterday by the Electoral College.
Yet, the longest day for American democracy had a rocky start: with the shutdown of the Michigan Capitol for “credible threats,” where delegates were meeting to count the votes. By three in the afternoon, the alarm had passed, and virtual white smoke was coming out of the building. By then, the other “contested” states, where Donald Trump had explored every legal avenue to overturn Biden’s victory, had also fulfilled their duties. Arizona and Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. And then gradually to the West Coast.
Despite the high tension and rumors of possible violence, the final rite of this abnormal election concluded without drama. December 14th was legally the day when the Electoral College had to officially certify Biden’s victory, and then communicate it to the federal Congress in Washington on January 4th.
