US Congress certifies results of presidential election, paving way for Trump's swearing-in

A joint session of the US Congress presided over by Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday formally certified the November 5 presidential elections, paving the way for the swearing-in of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States on January 20.

Harris, 60, presided over the ceremonial function of the joint session during which votes from each of the states were tallied and certified during the ceremony that lasted for about 45 minutes. Harris, who was the Democratic presidential candidate, lost to Trump in the November 5 general elections. She presided over the joint session in her capacity as the vice president of the United States.

“The state of the vote for the president of the United States as delivered to the President of the Senate is as follows. The whole number of the electors appointed to vote for President of the United States is 538. Within that whole number the majority is 270. The votes for president of the United States are as follows: Donald J Trump of the State of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D Harris of the State of California has received 226 votes,” Harris announced.

She made a similar announcement for the election results of the Vice President. Ohio Senator J D Vance, the running mate of Trump, received 312 votes, Harris announced.

Vance, 40, was physically present during the joint session of the Congress in his capacity as the US Senator from Ohio. As soon as the certified results were announced, several of the Congressmen and Senators walked to him to congratulate him.

“CONGRESS CERTIFIES OUR GREAT ELECTION VICTORY TODAY — A BIG MOMENT IN HISTORY. MAGA!” Trump said in a post of Truth Social ahead of the joint session.

The joint session to certify the results of the presidential elections was held amidst unprecedented security. The entire event was smooth and peaceful but reminded one of the chaos and scenes outside and inside the US Capitol four years ago when thousands of MAGA and Trump supporters forced entered the US Capitol. They were agitated by the election results of November 2020 in which Trump lost to Joe Biden. The insurrection in 2021 had resulted in the death of five people.

The Congressional proceedings on Monday marked the first certification after Congress passed changes to the Electoral Count Act to raise the threshold for mounting objections.

“Then-President Trump and his allies had sought to exploit ambiguities in the arcane law to overturn the results of the 2020 election,” Politico reported.

In late 2022, the Congress had passed a bill which made the Vice President the ceremonial role to count the votes with no power to change the votes.