In the early morning hours of Thursday, the House and Senate formally certified the Electoral College results, which officially will make Joe Biden the next President of the United States.
President Donald Trump released a statement about 15 minutes after the process ended. He said while he believes there was massive fraud, he will participate in an orderly transition.
Pennsylvania was one of two states that had their Electoral College results objected to by members of Congress. Local Congressmen Mike Kelly and Glenn “GT” Thompson both rejected to certify the state’s results, citing mail-in ballots as unconstitutional.
“The tragic attack on the U.S. Capitol does not change the fact that Act 77’s no excuse mail-in ballot system violates the Pennsylvania Constitution and Governor Wolf and Secretary Boockvar disregarded the law in multiple ways leading up to the election,” Kelly said in a statement.
Meanwhile Republican Senator Pat Toomey said that the federal government should play no role in overturning state election results.
“If we adopt this new precedent that we sit in judgment of state processes, then we’re federalizing election laws. We would necessarily have to establish the permissible criteria and rules for the state’s elections,” Toomey said.
Members of both chambers voted down the objection; the Senate 92-7 and the House 282-138.
