Trump’s gambit to overturn election results is running out of time
Joe Biden is moving closer to formally claiming the White House as states push ahead with certifying election results despite Donald Trump’s efforts to challenge the vote.
Although Trump’s campaign and his supporters have mounted legal chal lenges, Georgia is on track to certify its election results on Friday, with Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada expected to follow next week, Arizona by Nov. 30 and Wisconsin by Dec. 1. Unless courts intervene, validation by those states would make it difficult for Trump to continue to claim that he, and not Biden, won the presidential election.
“This is going to be a series of dominoes that fall sort of ineluctably toward the conclusion that we already know is true, which is that Biden is the winner of these states and is the president- elect,” said Richard Pildes, a New York University professor of constitutional law. “This will be the formal legal step that cements that.”
States make their election results official through a certification after what’s known as a canvass to account for every ballot cast and to confirm that every valid vote was counted, according to the U. S. Election Assistance Commission. Procedures and deadlines for certifying votes vary by state.
Certified totals can change if a state allows recounts after certification, which Georgia, Michigan and Nevada do, or if there is a challenge to the election. But certification amounts to a declaration of a winner, and the winning candidate will assume office unless a court intervenes, said Michael Morley, an assistant law professor at Florida State University who’s worked on election emergencies and post- election litigation.
Certification is also important because it triggers the appointment of state electors to the electoral college. Votes for a presidential candidate are actually for that candidate’s slate of electors, and certified results allow the state’s executive — typically the governor — to send “certificates of ascertainment” to the archivist of the United States listing the names of the electors appointed and the number of votes cast, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Trump’s campaign or his Republican supporters have sued to stop certification in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Arizona citing election irregularities but without evidence of widespread fraud. The two Republicans on a board in the Michigan county that includes Detroit also initially refused to certify results on Tuesday before reversing their decision amid public outrage.