A user manual for certifying the presidential election

The House and Senate will meet in a joint session of Congress on Monday to certify the results of the 2024 presidential election.

The Capitol riot and the setbacks surrounding the certification of the 2020 presidential election have transformed the often-dormant quadrennial affair of Electoral College certification into a full-blown national security event. Congressional security officials began erecting a 10-foot-high fence around the outer perimeter of the Capitol complex in recent days. Some of the fences extend beyond the usual “Capitol Square” which includes the Capitol building itself. One of these fences ran all the way around the outer boundaries of Russell Senate Park.

One of the great ironies of the American political system is that the person who loses the presidential race often presides over his own defeat. In this case, Vice President Harris. Harris remains vice president until January 20. This also means she continues to serve as Senate President.

Others have accomplished the difficult task of certifying their own defeat. Future President Richard Nixon was vice president when he lost to President John F. Kennedy in 1960. Nixon then certified JFK as the winner in January 1961. Former Vice President Al Gore conceded his election to President George W. Bush after the disputed 2000 election and uproar over which candidate actually won Florida. Gore was then on Capitol Hill to seal Bush’s victory in January 2001.

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Here’s what the 12th Amendment to the Constitution says about Congressional approval of election results: “The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all certificates and the votes shall be then counted. »

This dictates a joint session of Congress. This is where the House and Senate meet simultaneously, usually in the House chamber. The Speaker of the House presides alongside the President of the Senate: in this case, Vice President Harris.

But Harris kind of runs the show.

The House and Senate meet only in a joint session of Congress to receive the President on the State of the Union and certify the election results. And since the House successfully elected a president Friday afternoon, the House and Senate can convene the joint session. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will co-chair the session atop the House dais.

Things are different compared to this exercise four years ago.

The relatively routine, almost ceremonial, certification of the Electoral College changed forever on January 6, 2021, in the wake of the Capitol riot.

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Capitol Police began restricting vehicle traffic on streets around the Capitol complex early Monday morning. Access to the House and Senate office buildings is limited to members, staff and visitors who are there on official business. There will be only a few pedestrian access points to the Capitol grounds. Official visits to the Capitol are suspended.

Johnson will call the House to order around 1 p.m. EST on Monday. House Sergeant-at-Arms Bill McFarland will announce the arrival of Harris and the senators as they enter the House chamber. Members of the House Administration Committee and the Senate Rules Committee will serve as “tellers” to assist in the counting of electoral votes.

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Harris will declare that the House and Senate are meeting in joint session and announce “that the (election) certificates are genuine and correct in form.”

Starting with Alabama, it is likely that one of the poll workers will read the following:

“The certificate of the electoral vote of the State of Alabama appears to be in regular and authentic form. It therefore appears that Donald John Trump of the State of Florida received nine votes for President and JD Vance of the State of Ohio received nine votes for Vice President.”

Here we go.

In late 2022, lawmakers made several changes to the “Electoral Count Act” of 1887. Congress initially passed the Electoral Count Act in response to the disputed election of 1876. Several states sent competing slates of voters in Washington. Lawmakers determined there was no formality in tabulating the Electoral College results.

Democrat Samuel Tilden won the popular vote. But President Rutherford B. Hayes won the White House – after a special commission appointed by Congress presented him with 20 disputed electoral votes.

The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022 clarified the role of the vice president in the joint session of Congress. President-elect Trump and other loyalists leaned on then-Vice President Pence for assertiveness in the process. Many demanded that he accept alternative slates of electors from the states in question. The updated law states that the role of the vice president is simply “ministerial.” The new statute states that the vice president has no authority “to determine, accept, reject, or otherwise decide or resolve disputes concerning the proper slate of electors, the validity of electors, or the votes cast.” of voters.”

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The new law also established an expedited judicial appeals process for disputes over electoral votes. Finally, the law changed how lawmakers themselves can challenge a state’s voter roll during the joint session.

The old system required a House member and a senator to sign a petition challenging a given state’s voter rolls. In 2021, Republicans planned to challenge up to six swing states. They finally interviewed two of them.

In 2001, several members of the Congressional Black Caucus attempted to challenge Florida’s voter registration rolls. But they didn’t have a Senate co-sponsor.

After Rep. Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, begged to question Florida’s electoral votes, Al Gore — again, presiding over his own defeat — asked if the California Democrat had a cohort in the Senate.

Waters responded that she didn’t care and “didn’t care.”

Gore then responded with a statesmanlike proclamation that healed the political wounds of the rancorous election he had just lost to President W. Bush.

“The President will indicate that the rules TO DO care,” Gore said.

His removal of Waters sparked a wave of bipartisan applause in the House chamber.

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A question arose regarding Ohio’s electoral vote roll when Congress began certifying the 2004 election in January 2005. But this time, the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Democrat of Ohio, and former Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, joined forces to force the House and Senate to debate and vote separately on Ohio’s slate of electors. But the House and Senate rejected their petition.

The 2022 law made it more difficult to challenge a state’s election certificates. It now requires one-fifth of all members of the House and half of all members of the Senate to challenge state proposals.

The outcome of the 2024 elections is not in dispute. No one expects anyone to impose additional Electoral College reviews on Congress. And despite additional precautions, Capitol security officials do not expect gatherings and certainly not violence, unlike in 2021.

In 2021 – after the riot and two near brawls in the House – Pence certified the election vote result just before 4 a.m. ET on January 7. This year’s exercise is expected to end in about an hour. Vice President Harris will announce that Donald Trump has won the election “for a term beginning January 20, 2025.” She will then dissolve the joint session.

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And two weeks later, at noon, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts swears in Donald John Trump on the West Front of the Capitol for his second term.