The count of the Electoral College ballots during a joint session of the 115th United States Congress, pursuant to the Electoral Count Act, on January 6, 2017, was held as the final step to confirm President-elect Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
This event was notable due to the many faithless electors in the electoral college votes, and the many unsuccessful objections raised by Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives.
Background
The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president. Each state appoints electors according to its legislature, equal in number to its congressional delegation (senators and representatives). Federal office holders cannot be electors. Of the current 538 electors, an absolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president. If no candidate achieves an absolute majority there, a contingent election is held by the United States House of Representatives to elect the president, and by the United States Senate to elect the vice president.
Each state and the District of Columbia produces two documents to be forwarded to Congress, a certificate of ascertainment and a certificate of vote. A certificate of ascertainment is an official document that identifies the state's appointed College electors and the tally of the final popular vote count for each candidate in that state in a presidential election; the certificate of ascertainment is submitted after an election by the governor of each state to the archivist of the United States and others, in accordance with 3 U.S.C. §§ 6–14 and the Electoral Count Act. Within the United States' electoral system, the certificates "[represent] a crucial link between the popular vote and votes cast by electors". The certificates must bear the state seal and the governor's signature. Staff from the Office of the Federal Register ensure that each certificate contains all legally required information. When each state's appointed electors meet to vote (on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December), they sign and record their vote on a certificate of vote, which are then paired with the certificate of ascertainment, which together are sent to be opened and counted by congress.
The 12th Amendment mandates Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election. The Electoral Count Act, a federal law passed in 1887, further established specific procedures for the counting of the electoral votes by the joint Congress. The session is ordinarily required to take place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors. Since the 20th Amendment, the newly elected joint Congress declares the winner of the election; all elections before 1936 were determined by the outgoing Congress.
A state's certificate of vote can be rejected only if both Houses of Congress, debating separately, vote to accept an objection by a majority in each House. If the objection is approved by both Houses, the state's votes are not included in the count. Individual votes can also be objected to, and are also not counted. If there are no objections or all objections are overruled, the presiding officer simply includes a state's votes, as declared in the certificate of vote, in the official tally. After the certificates from all states are read and the respective votes are counted, the presiding officer simply announces the final state of the vote. This announcement concludes the joint session and formalizes the recognition of the president-elect and of the vice president-elect. The senators then depart from the House chamber. The final tally is printed in the Senate and House journals.
Faithless electors
Joint Session of Congress A joint session of Congress convened at 1:00 PM EST on January 6, 2017, presided over by Vice President Biden, where the votes of the state electors were formally certified in the House chamber. The certification witnessed a total of 10 state certificates were objected to by Democratic members of Congress, all of which were to states won by Donald Trump. Objections to the votes needed to be in writing and signed by both a member of the House and a member of the Senate. Every House member who rose to object did so without a senator's signature. Many of the objections were raised due to disputed claims of voter suppression and foreign interference. Then-Vice President Joe Biden presided over the count. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Roy Blunt were the tellers from the Senate, and Representatives Gregg Harper and Bob Brady were the tellers from the House.
At 1:09 PM, Representative Jim McGovern raised the first objection, objecting the certification of Alabama's electors. Biden dismissed the objection because it lacked the signature of a senator. Shortly after, members Jamie Raskin and Pramila Jayapal objected to electors from Florida and Georgia, respectively. After Barbara Lee objected to Michigan's electors, her microphone was turned off. Lee later objected to West Virginia's electors. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee made a total of four objections, objecting the certification of Mississippi's, North Carolina's (in which Raul Grijalva also objected), South Carolina's, and Wisconsin's electors. Each time an objection was raised, Biden noted that the objections could not be entertained due to the lack of a signature from a senator. During Wyoming's certification, which was the final state to be certified, Maxine Waters pleaded to the chamber, asking for a senator to sign her objection. No senator came forward, and the procedure finished at 1:41 PM, with a total of 304 certified electoral college votes for Donald Trump and 227 certified electoral college votes for Hillary Clinton.
+StatewinnersFaithless electorsObjection raised byAlabama 9Trump/PenceNoneJim McGovern (D-MA-2)Alaska 3Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsArizona 11Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsArkansas 6Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsCalifornia 55Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsColorado 9Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsConnecticut 7Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsDelaware 3Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsDistrict of Columbia 3Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsFlorida 29Trump/PenceNoneJamie Raskin (D-MD-8)Georgia 16Trump/PenceNonePramila Jayapal (D-WA-7)Hawaii 43 for Clinton/Kaine1 for Bernie SandersNo ObjectionsIdaho 4Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsIllinois 20Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsIndiana 11Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsIowa 6Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsKansas 6Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsKentucky 8Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsLouisiana 8Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsMaine 43 for Clinton/Kaine1 for Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsMaryland 10Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsMassachusetts 11Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsMichigan 16Trump/PenceNoneBarbara Lee (D-CA-13)Minnesota 10Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsMississippi 6Trump/PenceNoneSheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18)Missouri 10Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsMontana 3Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsNebraska 5Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsNevada 6Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsNew Hampshire 4Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsNew Jersey 14Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsNew Mexico 5Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsNew York 29Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsNorth Carolina 15Trump/PenceNoneRaul Grijalva (D-AZ-3)Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18)North Dakota 3Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsOhio 18Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsOklahoma 7Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsOregon 7Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsPennsylvania 20Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsRhode Island 4Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsSouth Carolina 9Trump/PenceNoneSheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18)South Dakota 3Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsTennessee 11Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsTexas 3836 for Trump/Pence1 for John Kasich1 for Ron PaulNo ObjectionsUtah 6Trump/PenceNoneNo ObjectionsVermont 3Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsVirginia 13Clinton/KaineNoneNo ObjectionsWashington 128 for Clinton/Kaine3 for Colin Powell1 for Faith Spotted EagleNo ObjectionsWest Virginia 5Trump/PenceNoneBarbara Lee (D-CA-13)Wisconsin 10Trump/PenceNoneSheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18)Wyoming 3Trump/PenceNoneMaxine Waters (D-CA-43) *Maine awards electors by congressional district. Clinton won Maine at-large and Maine's first congressional district, while Trump won the second district.
Several representatives had previously attempted to contest Bush's 2004 victory in Ohio. These are Barbara Lee (D-CA-13), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18), Maxine Waters (D-CA-43), and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ-3). Of these, all except Grijalva had previously contested Bush's 2000 victory in Florida, making them the only Congress people to have contested three different elections.
See also 2016 United States presidential election First presidential transition of Donald Trump First inauguration of Donald Trump
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