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It’s official: Electoral college formally gives Biden the nod for Presidency

Joe Biden has been confirmed as next US president after California’s electors voted to give him the state’s 55 electoral college votes, pushing him over the 270 threshold needed to win the presidency.

Dec 15, 2020, updated Dec 15, 2020
After weeks of negotiations, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and US President Joe Biden forged a tentative agreement on raising the debt ceiling late on Saturday (Photo: ABC)

After weeks of negotiations, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and US President Joe Biden forged a tentative agreement on raising the debt ceiling late on Saturday (Photo: ABC)

The college voted in state capitols across the country on Monday to install Biden as President Donald Trump continued to contest the election result.

Biden is set to garner 306 votes while Trump will get 232. States have all certified their results from the November 3 election.

The electoral college system distributes 538 votes to states based on population size. The winner of the presidential election is the candidate to get more than 270 electoral votes.

While most states have laws binding electors to the popular vote outcome in their territories, some do not, potentially creating room for drama if officials decide to go rogue.

In modern history this has not been an issue.

In the morning votes on the east coast and in the south there were no unexpected events. Even in Georgia, the scene of a hotly contested election battle, all 16 votes went to Biden.

Trump is pushing a false narrative that the elections were rigged against him.

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His legal team has lost dozens of cases in the courts and one case brought by his allies was rejected at the Supreme Court level.

The next step will be in Congress on January 6, with certification of the Electoral College vote.

Biden and vice president Kamala Harris are due to be sworn in on January 20.

So far, Trump has not offered to meet Biden but his administration has begun to work with the president-elect’s transition team.

-AAP

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