Electoral College: Biden affirmed president-elect as California electors push him over 270 votes
Electors cast definitive votes for president-elect
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Joe Biden has received more than 270 Electoral College votes, securing the president-elect’s victory as electors across the country cast their votes on behalf of the 50 states and the Washington DC to choose the next president.
In a speech to her state’s electors, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said: "After today, the results will be final. It's time to move forward together."
Donald Trump has meanwhile continued to rage against his election defeat on Twitter, arguing without evidence for his claims that: "Swing States that have found massive VOTER FRAUD, which is all of them, CANNOT LEGALLY CERTIFY these votes as complete & correct without committing a severely punishable crime."
Mr Biden received 306 votes to Mr Trump’s 232 in accordance with last month’s election results, bringing the country closer to ending a nightmarish post-election period in which the president has doggedly contested his challenger’s victory through a series of frivolous lawsuits.
He has thus far comprehensively failed to substantiate his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, with dozens of challenges filed by his campaign in crucial swing states that he won in 2016.
Following the votes, two more top Republican senators have acknowledged Mr Biden’s victory, including South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Missouri’s Roy Blunt.
The results now head to Washington to be tallied during a joint session of Congress. Vice president Mike Pence will preside.
Mr Biden is set to be sworn into office on 20 January.
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We’re closing today’s live coverage of Electoral College results and reactions.
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With Biden’s Electoral College victory and popular vote win behind him, officials renew calls to abolish the EC
From Hillary Clinton’s push to abolish the electoral college moments after casting New York’s first vote from it, to Senator Ed Markey’s call for a popular vote win to signal the presidential election victory, officials have renewed calls to abolish the Electoral College as states convene across the US to finalise Joe Biden’s victory.
The calls follow a National Popular Vote movement, including 15 states and the District of Columbia, which encompasses 196 electoral votes of a needed 270.
Paul Mitchell: Congressman leaves GOP over Republicans’ embrace of election conspiracies
Washington correspondent Griffin Connolly has more on Paul Mitchell, who dropped the GOP after Trump’s election conspiracies caused "long-term harm to our democracy.”
Congressman leaves GOP over Republicans’ embrace of election conspiracies
‘Our nation will be damaged,’ if Republicans continue to foment distrust of 2020 election, retiring Michigan congressman writes
‘It’s time to move forward together’: Gretchen Whitmer receives standing ovation following violent threats to Michigan Electoral College
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer received a standing ovation at the state’s capitol as the Electoral College convened to cast definitive votes in the 2020 presidential election.
Following repeat attacks from the president and far-right demonstrators, along with an alleged security threat against electors and lawmakers on Monday, the governor declared "the people have spoken.”
“It was a safe, fair and secure election,” she said after taking the podium. “It was the kind of election our founding fathers envisioned when they created this democracy and built this country.”
Trump announces Barr is out, moments after definitive electoral loss
Attorney General William Barr is leaving the administration, Trump announced minutes after California’s Electoral College cast its definitive votes ensuring Biden’s victory.
Joe Biden clinches Electoral College win by taking California
And that’s it. California’s presidential electors officially made Joe Biden the president-elect, casting the state’s 55 Electoral College votes for the former vice president.
Washington chief John T Bennett has the latest:
Joe Biden clinches Electoral College win by taking California
California’s presidential electors officially made Joe Biden the president-elect, casting the state’s 55 Electoral College votes for the former vice president.
California to cast 55 electoral votes for Biden
Joe Biden’s victory has effectively been sealed, with 247 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 232. Next up to cast EC ballots is California – with 55 more going to the president-elect.
California’s votes, plus four more from Hawaii, the last state to cast its electoral votes, puts Biden at 306. (He needs 270 to win.)
Biden to deliver remarks following Electoral College votes
Joe Biden will address the nation at 7.30pm EST on 14 December following the convention of Electoral College electors casting definitive votes for the president-elect.
In excerpts from prepared remarks shared by the transition team, Mr Biden says “in America, politicians don’t take power — the people grant it to them.”
“The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago,” he is expected to say. “And we now know that nothing – not even a pandemic or an abuse of power – can extinguish that flame.”
He’s also expected to return to his message of national unity, declaring himself a president “for all Americans” as the nation prepares for the “urgent work in front of all of us.”
“Getting the pandemic under control to getting the nation vaccinated against this virus,” he says in prepared remarks. “Delivering immediate economic help so badly needed by so many Americans who are hurting today – and then building our economy back better than ever.”
Republican disavows GOP and switches to independent amid Trump’s failed legal battles
A new CNN report says a Michigan Republican has changed his part affiliation, citing his apparent disapproval over the president’s efforts to overturn his electoral defeat - and the party’s complicity:
Police block Republican electors from disruption
Officials were forced to block GOP electors from causing a spectacle within the Michigan State Capitol:
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