Biden: ‘Democracy prevailed’
Electoral College formally confirms Biden win over Trump, 306 to 232
WASHINGTON — The Electoral College formally chose Joe Biden on Monday as the nation’s next president, giving him a solid electoral majority of 306 votes and confirming his victory in last month’s election. The state-by-state voting took on outsize importance this year because of President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede he had lost.
Heightened security was in place in some states as electors met to cast paper ballots, with masks, social distancing and other pandemic precautions in place. The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside.
For all Mr. Trump’s
unsupported claims of fraud, there was little suspense and no change as all the electoral votes allocated to Mr. Biden and the president in last month’s popular vote went officially to each man.
Mr. Biden handily beat Mr. Trump, who had 232 electoral votes — a 74-vote margin that Mr. Biden noted Mr. Trump had called a landslide when he won by that same margin in 2016. On Election Day, the Democrat topped the incumbent Republican by more than 7 million in the popular vote nationwide.
California’s 55 electoral votes put Mr. Biden past the 270-vote mark needed to win. Vermont, with 3 votes, was the first state to report; Hawaii, with 4, was the last.
In Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — the six battleground states that Mr. Biden won and Mr. Trump contested — electors gave Mr. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris their votes in low-key proceedings.
“In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed,” Mr. Biden said in an evening speech in which he stressed the size of his win and the record 81 million people who voted for him. “We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact, and now it’s time to turn the page, as we’ve done throughout history.”
He renewed his campaign promise to be a president for all Americans, whether they voted for him or not, and said the country has hard work ahead on the virus and economy.
“Once again in America, the rule of law, our Constitution and the will of the people have prevailed. Our democracy — pushed, tested, threatened — proved to be resilient, true and strong,” Mr. Biden said.
But there was still no concession from the White House, where Mr. Trump has continued to make unsupported allegations of fraud.
Mr. Trump remained in the Oval Office long after the sun set in Washington, calling allies and fellow Republicans while keeping track of the running Electoral College tally, according to White House and campaign aides.
Even with the Electoral College’s confirmation of Mr. Biden’s victory, some Republicans continued to refuse to acknowledge that reality. Yet their opposition to Mr. Biden had no practical effect on the electoral process, with the Democrat to be sworn in next month.