How Congress Will Certify Trump’s Electoral College Victory – Casson Living – World News, Breaking News, International News

WASHINGTON — The joint session of Congress scheduled for Monday to tally electoral votes is expected to unfold with much less tension compared to the certification process four years ago, which was marred by the violent actions of a mob supporting then-President Donald Trump. Their goal was to disrupt the counting process and overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

This time, Trump is on track to reclaim the presidency after winning the 2024 election. The race began with Biden as the Democratic nominee and culminated with Vice President Kamala Harris at the forefront of the ticket. Harris will preside over the certification of her own defeat, a constitutional responsibility similar to the role played by Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, after the chaos of January 6, 2021.

Typically, the congressional joint session held every four years on January 6 serves as a straightforward procedure to confirm the results of a presidential election following the Electoral College’s official vote in December. This mandatory gathering, outlined in the Constitution, follows several established protocols.

Let’s take a closer look at the procedures that will be followed during the joint session:

Federal law stipulates that Congress must convene on January 6 to open sealed certificates from each state detailing their electoral votes, presented in specially designated mahogany boxes.

Representatives from both chambers will read the results aloud and conduct an official count. The vice president, acting as the president of the Senate, will oversee the session and announce the winner.

The Constitution requires Congress to gather to count the electoral votes. If there were to be a tie, the House of Representatives would decide the presidency, with each congressional delegation casting one vote. However, such a scenario hasn’t occurred since the 1800s, and it is unlikely this time, given Trump’s significant electoral victory over Harris, 312-226.

What has changed since the last session?

Following the violence of 2021 and Trump’s attempts to undermine the electoral process, Congress has instituted stricter certification rules.

A significant change is reflected in the revised Electoral Count Act, enacted in 2022, which clarifies the vice president’s role. This adjustment was made after Trump pressured Pence to contest the election results—an action that would have exceeded Pence’s ceremonial duties. Ultimately, Pence resisted Trump’s requests and acknowledged his own defeat, a role Harris will similarly fulfill.

The updated legislation explicitly states that the vice president does not have the power to change the results on January 6.

Harris and Pence are not the first vice presidents to preside over their own electoral losses. In 2001, Vice President Al Gore oversaw the counting of the 2000 presidential election, narrowly lost to Republican George W. Bush, during which he had to dismiss several objections from fellow Democrats.

In 2017, Biden, serving as vice president, presided over the session that confirmed Trump’s victory, rejecting objections from House Democrats that lacked support in the Senate.

How will the session proceed?

The session will commence with the presiding officer introducing the electoral vote certificates in alphabetical order by state.

Designated tellers from both the House and Senate, representing both parties, will read each certificate aloud while recording and tallying the votes. When the counting is complete, the presiding officer will announce the candidates who received the majority of the votes for president and vice president.

What happens if there’s an objection?

Once a teller has read the certificate for any state, any lawmaker can object to that state’s votes on any grounds. However, for the objection to be considered, it must be submitted in writing and endorsed by one-fifth of each chamber.

This requirement sets a higher standard than previous procedures, where only one member from each chamber was needed to support an objection. The 2022 law has made it more challenging to raise objections.

If any objection meets this threshold—which is not expected this time—the joint session would pause, and the House and Senate would separate to deliberate. For an objection to succeed, it would need approval from both chambers with a simple majority vote. If they do not concur, the original electoral votes would be counted as is.

In 2021, both chambers dismissed challenges to the electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Before 2021, the last significant objection was raised in 2005, when Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio and Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, both Democrats, objected to Ohio’s electoral votes,