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538 members of the Electoral College[c] 270 electoral votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Objections made to the electoral college votes of the 2000 U.S. presidential election. No objections Objection(s) attempted[b] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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The count of the Electoral College ballots during a joint session of the 107th United States Congress, pursuant to the Electoral Count Act, on January 6, 2001, was the final step to confirm then-President-elect George W. Bush's victory in the 2000 presidential election over Al Gore.
This event was notable in that Gore, who had narrowly failed to secure the deciding state of Florida after a series of controversial recount proceedings, partook in the certification of his own election loss in his role as President of the Senate. Multiple Democratic representatives attempted to object to the certification of Bush's Florida votes throughout the session, however no senator from either party signed onto the objections.[1][2]
Background
editElectoral College
editThe United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Article Two of 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.[3] 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[4] in a presidential election;[5][6] the certificate of ascertainment is submitted after an election by the governor of each state to the archivist of the United States[7][8] and others,[9] in accordance with 3 U.S.C. §§ 6–14[10][11] and the Electoral Count Act.[12][13] Within the United States' electoral system, the certificates "[represent] a crucial link between the popular vote and votes cast by electors".[14] 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.[15] When each state's appointed electors meet to vote (on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December),[6] they sign and record their vote on a certificate of vote,[11][13] which are then paired with the certificate of ascertainment, which together are sent to be opened and counted by Congress.[16]
The 12th Amendment mandates Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election.[17] 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.[18] The session is ordinarily required to take place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors.[19] 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.[20] 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.[3] The senators then depart from the House chamber. The final tally is printed in the Senate and House journals.
Florida vote dispute
editOn election night, it was unclear who had won, with the electoral votes of the state of Florida still undecided. The returns showed that Bush won Florida by such a close margin that state law required a recount. A month-long series of legal battles led to the highly controversial 5–4 Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore, which ended the recount. Ultimately, Bush won Florida by 537 votes, a margin of 0.009%. The Florida recount and subsequent litigation resulted in major post-election controversy, with some analysis suggesting that limited county-based recounts would have confirmed a Bush victory, whereas a statewide recount would have given the state to Gore. Postelection analysis has found that Palm Beach County's butterfly ballot misdirected over 2,000 votes from Gore to third-party candidate Pat Buchanan, tipping Florida—and the election—to Bush. (Full article...)
Joint Session of Congress
editBefore the count started, Deutsch attempts point of order, gets gavelled down by gore.
Gore pumps fist in air after being awarded california's 54 votes.[1]
Teller Fatah read florida's ticket, commenting beforehand: "This is the one we have all been waiting for."
objections in order: hastings, misconduct fraud, no debate allowed; meek; brown, 16,000 african-americans alleged to be disenfranchised; johnson, cites telegrams emails telephone calls; cummings, alleged disenfranchisement in florida; jackson-lee, alleges that millions were disenfranchised in florida; waters, "fraudulent", "i don't care" if not signed by senator, gore: "the rules do care", waters "gross violations of votings rights act"; lee, "supreme court, not the people, decided the election"; mckinney; mink, "no authority over senate"; WIP
WIP, add summary here; "preambles" before votes are counted; black disenfranchisement rationale;[21] mckinney rose twice; waters rose three times; jackson-lee rose twice; hastings rose twice; jackson rose twice; 13 reps objected to florida count, no objections to any other state[22][23]
| State | Electoral votes | Winner | Faithless electors | Objection raised by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 9 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Alaska | 3 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Arizona | 8 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Arkansas | 6 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| California | 54 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Colorado | 8 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Connecticut | 8 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Delaware | 3 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| District of Columbia | 2[d] | Gore/Lieberman | 1; abstained | No Objections |
| Florida | 25 | Bush/Cheney | None |
Barbara Lee (D-CA-9)[22] |
| Georgia | 13 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Hawaii | 4 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Idaho | 4 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Illinois | 22 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Indiana | 12 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Iowa | 7 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Kansas | 6 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Kentucky | 8 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Louisiana | 9 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Maine | 4 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Maryland | 10 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Massachusetts | 12 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Michigan | 18 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Minnesota | 10 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Mississippi | 7 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Missouri | 11 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Montana | 3 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Nebraska | 5 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Nevada | 4 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| New Hampshire | 4 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| New Jersey | 15 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| New Mexico | 5 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| New York | 33 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| North Carolina | 14 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| North Dakota | 3 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Ohio | 21 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Oklahoma | 8 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Oregon | 7 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Pennsylvania | 23 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Rhode Island | 4 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| South Carolina | 8 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| South Dakota | 3 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Tennessee | 11 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Texas | 32 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Utah | 5 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Vermont | 3 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Virginia | 13 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Washington | 11 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| West Virginia | 5 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
| Wisconsin | 11 | Gore/Lieberman | None | No Objections |
| Wyoming | 3 | Bush/Cheney | None | No Objections |
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ 267 electors pledged to the Gore/Lieberman ticket were elected; however, an elector from the District of Columbia abstained from casting a vote for president or vice president, bringing the ticket's total number of electoral votes to 266.
- ^ Pursuant to the Electoral Count Act of 1887, an objection requires the assent of a Representative and a Senator in order to be sustained before Congress. In all these cases, the attempted objections failed to receive assent from a Senator.
- ^ Electors were elected to all 538 apportioned positions; however, an elector from the District of Columbia pledged to the Gore/Lieberman ticket abstained from casting a vote for president or vice president, bringing the total number of electoral votes cast to 537.
- ^ One faithless elector from Washington, D.C., Barbara Lett-Simmons, abstained from voting in protest of the District's lack of voting representation in the United States Congress. Washington, D.C. has a non-voting delegate to Congress. She had been expected to vote for Gore/Lieberman.[24]
References
edit- ^ a b Mitchell, Alison (January 7, 2001). "Over Some Objections, Congress Certifies Electoral Vote". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 7, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
- ^ Glass, Andrew (January 6, 2008). "Congress certifies Bush as winner on Jan. 6, 2001". POLITICO. Archived from the original on September 16, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Robinson, Courtney (November 17, 2020). "It's official: Florida certifies its 2020 election results". WTSP. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
- ^ Conniff, Ruth (November 19, 2020). "Wisconsin's divisive presidential recount begins". Wisconsin Examiner. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
- ^ a b Astor, Maggie (November 12, 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 November 19, 2020.
- ^ Bedillion, Caleb (November 16, 2020). "Final vote tally shows Lee County turnout increase". Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
- ^ Lee, Jessica (November 19, 2020). "Could Trump Defy Popular Vote By Halting Voter Certification?". Snopes. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
- ^ Albiges, Marie (November 13, 2020). "Meet Pennsylvania's Electoral College voters: Everything they can — and can't — do". WHYY. Archived from the original on December 15, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
- ^ Karson, Kendall (December 8, 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 December 9, 2020.
- ^ a b Viebeck, Elise; Santamariña, Daniela (November 12, 2020). "Vote certification deadlines in states facing legal challenges from Trump, GOP". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
- ^ Montellaro, Zach (November 19, 2020). "What you need to know about how the Electoral College works". Politico. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
- ^ 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 19, 2020.
- ^ Friedmann, Sarah (November 3, 2016). "The Certificate Of Ascertainment Records Each Vote". Bustle. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
- ^ "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 November 19, 2020.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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 December 22, 2020.
- ^ 3 U.S.C. § 15, Counting electoral votes in Congress
- ^ Jalonick, Mary Clare (December 15, 2020). "EXPLAINER: How Congress will count Electoral College votes". AP NEWS. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
- ^ Huguelet, Austin. "Congress has objected to Electoral College votes before. Here's a look at past efforts:". Springfield News-Leader. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES--JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE HELD PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1; Congressional Record Vol. 147, No. 4" (PDF). www.congress.gov. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
- ^ "Electoral College Ballot Count | January 6, 2001 | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
- ^ Dizikes, Peter (January 6, 2006). "Electoral College Puts Bush Over the Top - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.