Biden clinches Electoral College win as California certifies

Joe Biden now officially has more than the 270 Electoral College votes he needs to claim the presidency after California certified its election results on Friday evening.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla approved the results of Biden’s victory, according to his office, which Democratic Gov.

Gavin Newsom will use to prepare the Certificate of Ascertainment appointing the state’s 55 electors for Biden.

The electors will meet in their states on Dec. 14 to cast their votes, which Congress will tally in a joint session on Jan. 6.

Even as Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris proceed with the transition to a new administration, President Donald Trump continues to make unsubstantiated allegations of massive voter fraud, on Twitter and in a lengthy video released this week. But his already slim chances of reversing the election outcome have narrowed even more as courts in several states have rejected legal challenges brought by his campaign and supporters.

Courts in Nevada and Minnesota handed him two more losses on Friday, dismissing lawsuits seeking to decertify Biden’s victories in those states.

A state court judge in Nevada threw out a lawsuit brought by six Republican voters who requested a court order nullifying Biden’s win or declaring Trump the winner, saying they utterly failed to meet the burden of producing “credible and relevant evidence” of massive voter fraud.

Hours earlier, the Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed a Republicanled suit that aimed to decertify the Biden win there, ruling the case had been filed too late to challenge mail-in-voting rules that were made public long before the Nov. 3 election.

Biden’s lead in the popular vote is now more than 7 million votes.

States that voted for Biden that have yet to certify their presidential election results include New Jersey, which plans to do so on Monday, and Hawaii, which is waiting for the resolution of two pending lawsuits.