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Electoral College Begins Voting to Make Biden's Victory Official

By Rebecca Shabad, Dareh Gregorian and Natalia Abrahams, NBC News

14 December 20

The president-elect is expected to speak in prime time after he has surpassed 270 for the win.

he Electoral College on Monday began voting to make President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election official.

All 538 electors will meet in their respective states to cast their votes for president based on the election results that were recently certified by all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Most electors, who were chosen by political parties in each state ahead of the November election, are expected to cast their ballots in state Capitol buildings.

The first states to vote Monday were Indiana, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Vermont, which started to vote at 10 a.m. ET. President Donald Trump snagged an early lead after Tennessee and Indiana awarded their 22 total votes to Trump while Vermont's and New Hampshire's electors cast their combined 7 votes for Biden.

Trump's lead evaporated by noon, though, when electors in several other states cast their votes, including three battleground states that were hotly contested by the president - Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania. After the noon votes were counted, Biden was leading 146 votes to 79.

In Georgia, the vote was presided over by Stacey Abrams, who helped get out the vote for Democrats and served as an elector on Monday. "I cast my vote for President Joe Biden," Abrams told the assembly.

Abrams was introduced by Rep.-elect Nikema WIlliams, who noted the occasion marked the first time the state had voted for a Democrat for president since 1992. "Now all the nation knows that Georgia is a blue state," Williams said.

Greetings from inside the Georgia State Capitol Senate Chamber where electors are gathering to formally cast votes for president and vice-president. The meeting will get underway in t-minus 10-minutes. pic.twitter.com/7OcCHszudZ

— Priscilla Thompson (@PriscillaWT) December 14, 2020

In Arizona, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said the vote normally has much "pomp and circumstance" but this year "unfortunately had an artificial shadow cast over it in the form of baseless accusations of misconduct and fraud, for which no proof has been provided, and which court after court has dismissed as unfounded."

She said the allegations from the president and his allies have "led to threats of violence against me, my office and those in this room today" despite an "extremely well-run election."

In New York, former President Bill Clinton and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. served as electors. They and 27 others in the state cast their votes for Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Around the same time those states voted, the Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed the Trump campaign's bid lawsuit to overturn the vote certification in the state. The court ruled against Trump 4-3, finding some of his allegations were meritless and other challenges were brought too late.

Voting in another state where the Trump campaign disputed the results, Michigan, was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. ET. The state Capitol will be closed during the vote because of threats of violence and anticipated protests.

California, which has 55 Electoral College votes, the most of any state, could put Biden over the top and is set to vote at 5 p.m. ET.

Biden is expected to deliver remarks in prime time about the Electoral College vote around 8 p.m. ET.

Trump and a number of Republican officials tried to overturn the results in battleground states, but the Supreme Court rejected that attempt Friday night. Trump has repeatedly said since the Nov. 3 election that he won by a landslide and that the election was rigged.

Biden, however, was deemed president-elect Nov. 7, four days after the election, once he surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Ultimately, Biden received 306 electoral votes, while Trump won 232.

On Jan. 6 at 1 p.m. ET, the Electoral College votes will be counted in a joint session of Congress. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harriswill then be sworn into office Jan. 20.

On Thanksgiving, Trump told reporters it would be a "very hard thing to concede" the election even when the Electoral College finalizes Biden's win. He said, "If they do, they've made a mistake." When asked whether he would leave the White House under that outcome, Trump said, "Certainly I will."