The final tally is printed in the Senate and House journals. The senators then depart from the House chamber. This announcement concludes the joint session and formalizes the recognition of the president-elect and of the vice president-elect. After the certificates from all states are read and the respective votes are counted, the presiding officer simply announces the final state of the vote. If there are no objections or all objections are overruled, the presiding officer simply includes a state's votes, as declared in the certificate of vote, in the official tally. Individual votes can also be objected to, and are also not counted. If the objection is approved by both Houses, the state's votes are not included in the count. Since the 20th Amendment, the newly elected joint Congress declares the winner of the election all elections before 1936 were determined by the outgoing Congress.Ī state's certificate of vote can be rejected only if both Houses of Congress, debating separately, vote to accept an objection by a majority in each House. The session is ordinarily required to take place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors. The Electoral Count Act, a federal law passed in 1887, further established specific procedures for the counting of the electoral votes by the joint Congress.
The 12th Amendment mandates Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election. When each state's appointed electors meet to vote (on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December), they sign and record their vote on a certificate of vote, which are then paired with the certificate of ascertainment, which together are sent to be opened and counted by congress. Staff from the Office of the Federal Register ensure that each certificate contains all legally required information. The certificates must bear the state seal and the governor's signature. Within the United States' electoral system, the certificates " a crucial link between the popular vote and votes cast by electors". A certificate of ascertainment is an official document that identifies the state's appointed College electors and the tally of the final popular vote count for each candidate in that state in a presidential election the certificate of ascertainment is submitted after an election by the governor of each state to the archivist of the United States and others, in accordance with 3 U.S.C. If no candidate achieves an absolute majority there, a contingent election is held by the United States House of Representatives to elect the president, and by the United States Senate to elect the vice president.Įach state and the District of Columbia produces two documents to be forwarded to Congress, a certificate of ascertainment and a certificate of vote. Of the current 538 electors, an absolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president.
Federal office holders cannot be electors. Each state appoints electors according to its legislature, equal in number to its congressional delegation (senators and representatives). The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president. See also: United States Electoral College, Certificate of ascertainment, and Certificate of vote The counting resumed in the evening after the Capitol was secured and concluded by the following morning. Republican representatives also raised objections against votes for Biden from Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin, but these objections failed because they were not co-signed by a senator.Īmid the debate on Arizona's votes, rioters stormed the Capitol building, causing the count to be temporarily halted until officials could safely return to their chambers. The joint session adjourned twice to debate objections against the votes won by Biden in Arizona and Pennsylvania both objections were defeated in the House and Senate, with only six Republican senators supporting the former and seven supporting the latter. A group of legislators from Trump's Republican Party announced they would formally object to counting Biden's votes in swing states, while Trump unsuccessfully sought to have Vice President Mike Pence use his presiding role over the count to change the outcome. The event drew unprecedented attention because of the efforts of Trump and his allies to overturn the election results. The count of the Electoral College ballots during a joint session of the 117th United States Congress, pursuant to the Electoral Count Act, on January 6–7, 2021, was the final step to confirm then-President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election over the incumbent president Donald Trump.
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