TOI Correspondent from Washington:Donald Trump may have won the US Presidential elections but he has yet been formally elected US President. In an arcane US election system, that is a process that will take several more weeks.
When voters cast ballots, they basically selected electors for the candidate who wins the popular vote in each state — 19 electors in Pennsylvania which Trump won, 29 electors in New York which Harris won, and so on. A majority of electoral votes is 270.
These electors will now proceed to each state’s capitol on December 17 to cast votes for president and vice president. They are expected to be loyal to the winning candidate although rogue electors are not unknown.
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On January 6, 2025, those electoral votes will be counted in the chamber of the House of Representatives. The result is then declared by the president of the Senate.
Ironically in this case, that would be Kamala Harris, because the vice president is automatically president of the Senate and it is the role of the Senate president to officially declare the result of a presidential election.
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As the Senate website explains: “The Constitution names the vice president of the United States as the president of the Senate. In addition to serving as presiding officer, the vice president … formally presides over the receiving and counting of electoral ballots cast in presidential elections.”
If Harris had won the election, she would have been declaring herself the winner.
The process has led to a tricky situation at least once in the past. On January 6, 2001, more than a dozen Democratic members of Congress begged vice president Al Gore not to certify his own defeat in the 2000 presidential election after a narrow and controversial loss to George W Bush. Gore rejected the entreaties.
Also read: Trump vs Harris – who won which state?
The new president always takes office on January 20, 2025.
The reason for the long lag between Election Day, which is always Tuesday after the first Monday of November, and Inauguration Day, which is the following January 20, was to enable electors journey through winter on horseback and buggy in the days before automobiles and telecommunications.
21st century America is still wedded to a process that in today’s age could be completed in less than a week.
Also read: What happens to Donald Trump’s criminal cases after he becomes President? Can he pardon himself?
There are now 75 days till January 20, 2025. Joe Biden will be the proverbial “lame duck” President till then, but will all the powers and privileges of a regular president. Kamala Harris too will remain vice-president till then.
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