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2025 United States Electoral College vote count

The count of the Electoral College ballots during a joint session of the 119th United States Congress, pursuant to the Electoral Count Act and Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, on January 6, 2025, will be the final step to confirm president-elect Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election over Kamala Harris.

2025 United States Electoral College vote count
← 2021 January 6, 2025 2029 →
538 members of the Electoral College
270 electoral votes needed to win
 
Nominee Donald Trump Kamala Harris
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Florida California
Running mate JD Vance Tim Walz
Electoral vote TBD TBD
States carried TBD TBD
President before election

Joe Biden
Democratic

Elected President

TBD

Background

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Electoral College

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See also: United States Electoral College, Certificate of ascertainment, and Certificate of vote

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. Each state appoints electors according to its legislature, equal in number to its congressional delegation (senators and representatives). Federal office holders cannot be electors. Of the current 538 electors, an absolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president.[1] As stated in the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, if no candidate for either office 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; under this amendment, only the election of 1824 failed to produce a majority for president, and the election of 1836 for vice president.

Each state and the District of Columbia produces two documents to be forwarded to Congress, a certificate of ascertainment and a certificate of vote. 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[2] in a presidential election;[3][4] the certificate of ascertainment is submitted after an election by the governor of each state to the archivist of the United States[5][6] and others,[7] in accordance with 3 U.S.C. §§ 6–14[8][9] and the Electoral Count Act.[10][11] Within the United States' electoral system, the certificates "[represent] a crucial link between the popular vote and votes cast by electors".[12] The certificates must bear the state seal and the governor's signature. Staff from the Office of the Federal Register ensure that each certificate contains all legally required information.[13] When each state's appointed electors meet to vote (on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December),[4] they sign and record their vote on a certificate of vote,[9][11] which are then paired with the certificate of ascertainment, which together are sent to be opened and counted by Congress.[14]

The 12th Amendment mandates Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election.[15] The Electoral Count Act, a federal law enacted in 1887, further established specific procedures for the counting of the electoral votes by the joint Congress.[16] The session is ordinarily required to take place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors.[17] 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.

A 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.[18] If the objection is approved by both Houses, the state's votes are not included in the count. Individual votes can also be objected to, and are also not counted. 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. 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. This announcement concludes the joint session and formalizes the recognition of the president-elect and of the vice president-elect.[1] The senators then depart from the House chamber. The final tally is printed in the Senate and House journals.

Legislative changes

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On December 23, 2022, the 117th Congress passed the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act. President Joe Biden signed it into law six days later.[19] Before this law, any senator could challenge the electoral vote; this law requires the minimum support of one-fifth of the senators to raise an objection.[20] The 2025 proceeding will be the first Electoral College vote count to which this law applies.

This will be the first time since 2001 that the sitting vice president will certify the results of a presidential election in which they were a major party nominee.

Presidential transition teams

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Before a presidential election, candidates must plan to ensure government continuity if they take office. In August 2024, Harris tapped Yohannes Abraham to lead her Harris presidential transition team[21] while Trump tapped Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon as co-chairs of his Trump presidential transition team.[22]

Security preparations

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On September 11, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security designated the vote count as a National Special Security Event.[23][24]

Before the November election, Democrats on the House Committee on Administration, which has oversight of federal election laws, planned how they would deal with a hypothetical obstruction attempt by the Republicans.[25] This concern was no longer relevant after Harris lost the election.

Slates of electors

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Main article: List of 2024 United States presidential electors

Some people who had volunteered as fake electors in 2020 were appointed to serve as legitimate electors for Trump should he win certain states in 2024. As of October 2024, there were six such electors in Michigan, five in Pennsylvania, two in Nevada and one in New Mexico.[26]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Pursuant to the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, an objection requires the assent of one-fifth of the members of each chamber of Congress in order to be sustained before the joint sitting. In all these cases, the attempted objections failed to receive assent from the requisite number of members.

References

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  1. ^ a b Neale, Thomas H. (October 22, 2020). "The Electoral College: A 2020 Presidential Election Timeline". Congressional Research Service. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  2. ^ Robinson, Courtney (17 November 2020). "It's official: Florida certifies its 2020 election results". WTSP. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  3. ^ Conniff, Ruth (19 November 2020). "Wisconsin's divisive presidential recount begins". Wisconsin Examiner. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  4. ^ a b Astor, Maggie (12 November 2020). "Here's What Will Happen Between Election Day and Inauguration Day". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  5. ^ Bedillion, Caleb (16 November 2020). "Final vote tally shows Lee County turnout increase". Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  6. ^ Lee, Jessica (19 November 2020). "Could Trump Defy Popular Vote By Halting Voter Certification?". Snopes. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  7. ^ Albiges, Marie (13 November 2020). "Meet Pennsylvania's Electoral College voters: Everything they can — and can't — do". WHYY. Archived from the original on December 15, 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  8. ^ Karson, Kendall (8 December 2020). "What to know about Tuesday's 'safe harbor' deadline to certify election results". ABC News. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  9. ^ a b Viebeck, Elise; Santamariña, Daniela (12 November 2020). "Vote certification deadlines in states facing legal challenges from Trump, GOP". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  10. ^ Montellaro, Zach (19 November 2020). "What you need to know about how the Electoral College works". Politico. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  11. ^ a b Neale, Thomas H. (22 October 2020). "The Electoral College: A 2020 Presidential Election Timeline". Congressional Research Service. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  12. ^ Friedmann, Sarah (3 November 2016). "The Certificate Of Ascertainment Records Each Vote". Bustle. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  13. ^ "The 2020 Presidential Election: Provisions of the Constitution and U.S. Code" (PDF). Office of the Federal Register. National Archives and Records Administration. July 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 9, 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  14. ^ Dixon, R. G. (June 1950). "Electoral College Procedure". The Western Political Quarterly. 3 (2). University of Utah: 214–224. doi:10.2307/443484. JSTOR 443484.
  15. ^ "Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11–27". National Archives and Records Administration. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved January 5, 2021. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.
  16. ^ Rybicki, Elizabeth; Whitaker, L. Paige. "Counting Electoral Votes: An Overview of Procedures at the Joint Session, Including Objections by Members of Congress" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Congressional Research Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  17. ^ 3 U.S.C. § 15, Counting electoral votes in Congress
  18. ^ Jalonick, Mary Clare (2020-12-15). "EXPLAINER: How Congress will count Electoral College votes". AP NEWS. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  19. ^ Wang, Amy; Goodwin, Liz (23 December 2022). "House joins Senate in passing Electoral Count Act overhaul in response to Jan. 6 attack". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  20. ^ Bobic, Igor (2024-09-14). "Lawmakers Fear More Jan. 6-Like Violence As Trump Amps Up Election Lies". HuffPost. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  21. ^ Dovere, Edward-Isaac (August 19, 2024). "Kamala Harris begins standard planning for presidential transition". CNN. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  22. ^ Slattery, Gram (August 16, 2024). "Trump taps major donors to lead transition effort should he return to power". Reuters. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  23. ^ "Feds increase security for Jan. 6 in effort to prevent Capitol attack repeat".
  24. ^ Vlachou, Marita (2024-09-12). "Department Of Homeland Security Will Treat Next Jan. 6 As National Special Security Event". HuffPost. Retrieved 2024-09-12.
  25. ^ MacFarlane, Scott (October 15, 2024). "Democrats in Congress seek to prevent another Jan. 6 riot, protect Electoral College certification". CBS News. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
  26. ^ Cohen, Marshall; Gainor, Danya; Main, Alison; Kamp, Majlie de Puy; Tolan, Casey; Ortega, Bob (2024-10-17). "At least 30 election deniers and 2020 fake electors serving as Trump electors this year". CNN. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
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