Joe Biden was named the new president of the United States on Saturday. But he won’t be this until January 20, 2021, when he takes the official oath at the Capitol in Washington DC. What happens until that day, while Donald Trump is still president?
A lot will happen until January 20. This all has to do with the American electoral system, in which the voter has not officially voted directly for Biden. Technically, they voted for electoral votes from the various states, who are part of the electoral college that will ultimately determine the president.
They will only do this when all votes have been fully counted and verified. And as we saw last week when counting, it can take quite some time.
Until November 23: counting of votes
In the complicated political system of the United States, each state has different rules regarding the counting of votes. This year it is even more complicated with the large number of people who voted by mail.
That’s how it works: some states still count post votes for days, as long as they are marked November 3 (election day). In most states that is one or two days, but in a state like Washington, votes count that arrive on November 23rd.
The counting is done very accurately, so it takes some time. All states must have issued their final results between November 10 and December 11.
Most final results will come in soon, but if there’s a small margin for the Republican or Democratic party to request a recount (if possible), it could take longer. Incidentally, it seems unlikely that this will happen, as the margins in the main swing states that helped Biden to victory are large enough.
December 8th: all final results must be in
It is then already a month after Biden claimed his winnings, but officially all states (with except California) on this day have counted all votes, cleared up all disturbances and determined a winner.
States must produce a statement in which they without doubt declare a candidate the winner. That is important, because that list goes to the electors.
Those electors are not virtual votes, but real persons (men and women by the way). In practice, they are people who have standing within both parties. They will therefore almost always vote loyally for ‘their’ candidate, according to the results, but this is not mandatory in some states.
December 14: electoral votes from each state meet
The Monday after the second Wednesday in December, the electors of each state must make their selection and send the result to Washington. This year, that day falls on Monday December 14.
In the last elections in 2016, it happened a few times that an elector did not vote for his party’s presidential candidate. For instance, Republican Christopher Suprun voted for John Kasich instead of Donald Trump.
Because these faithless electors It makes little difference to the end result, it is mainly a political statement, which is often not appreciated by the party. Some states will fine if this happens.
December 23: All electoral votes must be in Washington
Individual states are given ample time to announce their December 14 results in Washington. But by December 23 – two days before Christmas – all the results must be in.
January 3: New members of the House of Representatives and Senate sworn in
Elected members of the House of Representatives and Senate (which together form the United States Congress) are sworn in.
January 6: Electors counted
The final step in the complicated US electoral system: Congress gathers to hear the President of the Senate read aloud the results of all electors. That’s current Vice President Mike Pence.
A total of 538 electors can be distributed. A presidential candidate must get at least 270. Biden is at 279 at the time of writing, so amply arriving here.
But if a president will be elected on January 6, why not the inauguration until January 20? This has to do with the fact that this entire electoral process can be delayed, for example if no candidate achieves 270 electors. In that case, the 435 members of the House of Representatives vote on the new president. They then have until January 20 to elect a new president.
January 20: inauguration
Donald Trump must have officially packed his moving boxes and left the White House on this day.
Joe Biden will take the oath at the Capitol in the capital Washington. This is normally a major event, but due to the corona virus, it may be a lot smaller this time. Nothing is known about this yet.
After Trump has closed the door and left with his wife Melania, President Biden and First Lady Jill can start unpacking the moving boxes. At least, rather a number of their more than 4,000 employees that they have at their disposal.
And there is now also an extra monkey up the sleeve that justifies a transition period of more than two months: all those employees must be appointed by Biden. This not only concerns ministers and advisers, but also servants and cooks. And there will be Biden, that one laundry list of crises inherits, still need some time.
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