But there are still several steps in the electoral process before President Donald Trump’s presidency ends on January 20 and Biden takes office.

Let’s take a look at the key dates leading up Biden becoming the 46th President of the US.

December 8

News organisations typically project who has won the election shortly after polls right after Election Day.

However, this year, those projections took several days, primarily, due to an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots cast amid the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

At this particular situation, news organisations using a variety of factors, determine that one candidate no longer has a path to victory. Official counting continues for several days, and sometimes weeks, after a winner is projected. These tallies are subject to legal challenges and recounts, the criteria and timeline of which are regulated under individual states’ laws.

Regardless of state’s laws regarding recounts, the state must meet the deadline. December 8 is the deadline- to appoint the electors who will decide the winner based on a certified final count.

It is in this scenario Trump has not conceded and his campaign has vowed to challenge the election results in certain states.

December 14

On December 14, electors across the country cast their votes by paper ballots in their respective states and the District of Columbia, which has three electoral votes. Those results must be delivered to the US capital and other relevant officials by December 23.

There are 538 electoral votes, and the number of votes in each state matches how many senator and representatives that state has in Congress .

Washington, DC also has three electoral votes. In most states, all electoral votes are given to the candidate who wins the most votes in that state, although this is not necessarily required by law.

Two states – Maine and Nebraska – have slightly different systems: Two electors vote for the candidate that wins the state’s overall popular vote, while a third elector votes based on which candidate wins the most Congressional districts in that state.

Currently, 33 states and Washington, DC, have laws that require electors to vote for the candidate that wins the popular vote in their state.

January 6

The House and Senate hold a joint session to count the votes sent by electors across the country . If one ticket has received 270 or more electoral votes, the president of the Senate, currently Vice President Mike Pence, will announce the winner of the election.

If there is any objection to electoral returns from any state, the Memebers of Congress can express their objections by writing by at least one member of the House and one in the Senate.

If neither presidential candidate wins at least 270 electoral votes, the House decides the election, based on the 12th Amendment to the Constitution. If required, the House would elect the president through a majority vote.

January 20
President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn into office at noon on Inauguration Day. Vice- President elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in shortly before that.

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Joe Biden has said Democrats are winning the race to White House and will be winning over 300 electoral votes. The world is waiting for the next US President and counting continues into the fourth day. Biden is on the cusp of securing the presidency after gaining narrow leads over Donald Trump in key battleground states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona with narrow margins and the votes are still being counted.

Joe Biden would need six more electoral votes to secure the win. Securing Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes and Georgia’s six more electoral votes would put Biden over the 270 he needs to win the presidency. Across the US, Biden is leading Trump by 4.1 million votes out of a record 147 million cast in the 2020 US elections.

The prolonged process added to the anxiety of a nation whose racial and cultural divides were inflamed during the heated campaign.

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All eyes are on the key battleground states of Arizona, Iowa, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. The results of these states are crucial for both contenders.

Donald Trump prevailed in the hotly contested Rust Belt state of Ohio- one he seized in 2016 and which is key to his efforts to win reelection over Joe Biden. The Republican incumbent won one of the key battlegrounds, Florida while Biden got Arizona.

As of now Biden had 238 electoral votes against Trump’s 213. A candidate needs 270 votes to win the presidency.

Biden, searching desperately for states to recapture from Trump, was eyeing the so-called “blue wall” states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that sent Trump to the White House in 2016.

So far Trump has won Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah.

Biden meanwhile has taken Democratic-leaning states like California, Colorado, Columbia, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

Why Electoral College is crucial in United States election?

The winner of the election is determined through a system called the electoral college. Each of the 50 states, plus Washington DC, is given a number of electoral college votes, adding up to a total of 538 votes.  More populous states get more electoral college votes than smaller ones.

A candidate needs to win 270 electoral college votes to win the election. In every state except two- Maine and Nebraska- the candidate that get the most votes wins all of the state’s electoral college votes.

Due to these rules, a candidate can win the election without getting the most votes at the national level. This happened at the last election, in which Donald Trump won a majority of electoral college votes although more people voted for Hillary Clinton across the US.

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The midnight vote began today with voters choosing their preferred candidates for US President and New Hampshire governor, as well as federal and state legislative seats.

The 2020 US elections and congressional races, came amid a surging COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Americans will decide the fate of incumbent President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden through their votings.

To win the presidency, either Trump or Biden must acquire over 50 per cent of the electoral vote, which is 538 in total. This means each candidate must get a minimum of 270 electoral votes to clinch the presidency.

Joe Biden is currently leading Donald Trump in the national polls. But leading in polls does not guarantee victory. Hillary Clinton also had a clear lead over Trump in the polls for the entire 2016 campaign. She ended up losing the race.

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