15 December 2020 - Electoral college confirms Joe Biden's victory in presidential election
Electoral College formally affirms Biden's presidential win
(CNN, 14/12/2020)
President-elect Joe Biden has received enough electoral votes to officially clinch the presidency, a major milestone that he reached when California's electors awarded him the state's 55 electoral votes.
There is not and has not been any credible evidence of significant fraud in the 2020 election
Philip Bump (The Washington Post, 15/12/2020)
One of the most striking parts of Tim Alberta’s interviews of 20 Americans who did — and didn’t — vote in this year’s presidential election is how often they based their assumptions on untrue claims.
“It seems a Republican for president always has to win by a large enough margin to overcome the widespread election fraud that Democrats seem so comfortable with and prone toward. He failed to do that,” an Illinois Trump voter said to Alberta in an email. “I thought it remarkable that what I regard as credible-sounding fraud allegations are getting so little attention.” Asked about the source of this claim, the voter pointed to articles from the right-wing website American Spectator.
Republican senators slowly begin to accept Biden as president-elect after Electoral College vote
Nicholas Wu and Ledyard King (USA Today, 15/12/2020)
Congressional Republicans began the long-awaited pivot to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect following the Electoral College vote Monday.
"As soon as he crosses the 270-vote threshold (for victory), I mean there are still a couple of, I guess, last steps in the process, but in my view that's how in this country we decide presidential elections, that's our Constitution, and I believe in following the Constitution,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Capitol Hill.
“I understand there are people who feel strongly about the outcome of this election, but in the end at some point you have to face the music,” he said. “And I think once the electoral college settles the issue today, it's time for everybody to move on."
An apology for the Electoral College
Andrés L. Cordova (The Hill, 14/12/2020)
The last two presidential elections have raised serious questions on the value or necessity of the Electoral College as a constitutional institution. The disparity between the popular vote and the Electoral College vote in the 2016 election highlighted the disconnect between democratic and federalist principles. The 2020 election has again raised the issue although from a different perspective.
Opponents of the Electoral College have traditionally argued that it is a vestige of a past that needs to be eliminated in favor of a direct majoritarian popular vote. In a recent interview, for example, former President Obama commented on our imperfect democracy and of the need of reviewing the need for the Electoral College. This was said within the context of the possible admission of Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico as states of the union.