US Electoral College confirms Joe Biden as next president

By Vatican News staff writer

America’s 538 presidential electors cast their ballots on Monday, officially confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.

The Electoral College ratified his 3 November victory over Donald Trump with a majority of 306 to 232.

Mr. Biden will be sworn in as president on 20 January.

Electoral system

Under the US presidential election system, Americans cast ballots for “electors”, which are apportioned to each state according to population.

Members of the Electoral College then vote for candidates after the election.

Those ballots will now be sent to Washington DC to be formally counted at a joint session of Congress on 6 January.

At that point, the formal election of Joe Biden as president will be completed.

President-elect Biden also won the popular vote by over 7 million ballots, in an election with the highest voter turnout in 120 years.

Victory speech

Later Monday evening, Mr. Biden urged the nation to “turn the page”, and promised to be a president for all Americans.

“Once again in America, the rule of law, our Constitution, and the will of the people have prevailed,” he said. “Our democracy—pushed, tested, threatened—proved to be resilient, true, and strong.”

President-elect Biden said the Covid-19 presents an urgent challenge: “Getting this pandemic under control and getting the nation vaccinated against this virus.”

Ongoing pandemic

Confirmation of Mr. Biden’s victory came on the same day the US Covid-19 death toll topped 300,000.

It was also the day 150 hospitals across the country received their first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which has gotten approval for emergency use.

President-elect Biden has set a goal of 100 million Covid vaccinations in his first 100 days in office.