What happens after the Electoral College cast their votes? UofSC professor explains

Congress will meet on January 6 to formally count the ballots cast by the Electoral College

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — President-Elect Joe Biden is one step closer to having his victory in the 2020 Presidential Election become official.

The Associated Press said Biden secured the 270 votes from the the Electoral College need to secure his spot as the next President.

Back in November, millions went to polling places across the country and cast their votes in the presidential election. Even though all of the votes have been casted, the Constitution says one group has to meet in order to validate the winner of the national election.

“The Electoral College was established by the Founding Fathers as a compromise between election of the President by Congress and election by popular vote,” said South Carolina Secretary of State Mark Hammond.

Across the country, 537 delegates from every state and the District of Columbia meet in their respective capitals, and cast votes to reflect the will of the people.

In Columbia, delegates unanimously cast South Carolina’s nine electoral votes for President Donald Trump, making it eleven straight presidential elections where a Republican has won South Carolina.

The nine delegates to the Electoral College from South Carolina were: SCGOP chair Drew McKissick, Cindy Costa, Terry Hardesty, James S. Ulmer, Jr., Cheryl Cuthrell, Suzette Jordan, Charm Altman, Sandra Bryan, and Gerri McDaniel.

McKissick was named the President of the SC Electoral College delegation, while Costa, who sported a Trump 2020 mask as she counted the votes, was named Secretary of the delegation.

The last Democratic nominee to win South Carolina was Jimmy Carter back in 1976.

Even if President-Elect Joe Biden secures the 270 electoral votes needed to win, there is one more step that needs to happen a few weeks from now.

On January 6, a joint session of Congress will formally count the electoral votes and validate the election results.

“That’s how the Constitution was set up, and it was a way for Congress, if it needed, to step in. This was one final safeguard that everything went according to the laws, according to the Constitution, that there were no improprieties,” said Kirk Randazzo, the Political Science Chair at the University of South Carolina.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) intends to challenge the Electoral College vote in January, but he would need a Senator to join forces with him for that to be considered.

With none declaring their intent to override the election result, along with the Supreme Court throwing out a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that alleged voter fraud, Randazzo said the President does not have too many options to pry victory away from Biden.

“I think after today, it’s pretty much everything moving forward and January 6 will be more of a rubber stamp or a formality than anything else,” Randazzo said.

President-Elect Biden needs 270 of 538 electors to vote for him in order to secure the election.