Pennsylvania, Nevada certify Biden victories
HARRISBURG, Pa. – Democrat Joe Biden was certified Tuesday as winner of the presidential election in Pennsylvania, culminating three weeks of vote counting and a string of failed legal challenges by President Donald Trump.
Less than two hours later, the Nevada Supreme Court made Biden’s win in that state official, approving the state’s final canvass of the Nov. 3 election.
Pennsylvania’s 20 electors, a mix of elected Democrats, party activists and other staunch Biden backers, will meet in the state Capitol on Dec. 14.
One of them, state Democratic Party chair Nancy Patton Mills, said she will lead the Electoral College’s meeting in Harrisburg. Patton Mills said she was gratified Pennsylvania was “the state that made it possible” for Biden to win.
Biden’s win in the state, giving him its haul of 20 electoral votes, put him over the 270 needed and led The Associated Press to declare him the president-elect four days after Election Day. Biden has collected 306 overall electoral votes to Trump’s 232.
The Pennsylvania results show Biden and Harris with 3.46 million votes, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence with 3.38 million, and Libertarian Jo Jorgensen with 79,000.
Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar called election officials and poll workers “the true heroes of our democracy.”
“We are tremendously grateful to all 67 counties who have been working extremely long hours to ensure that every qualified voter’s vote is counted safely and securely,” she said.
In Nevada, the unanimous action by the seven nonpartisan justices sends to Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak results that will deliver six electoral votes from the battleground state to Biden.
The court action drew extra scrutiny amid legal efforts by the state GOP and Trump campaign to prevent mailing ballots to all 1.82 million registered voters and then to stop the counting of the 1.4 million votes that were cast.
Nevada’s six Democratic presidential electors are scheduled to meet Dec. 14 in the capital, Carson City.
Biden won by Nevada 33,596 votes, according to results approved by elected officials in Nevada’s 17 counties. The Democrat got 50.06% of the vote and Trump 47.67%.