With uncommon exceptions, just like the 2000 presidential election, the profitable candidate normally declares victory on election evening. However the win isn't really licensed till January. ranklin McMahon/CORBIS/Corbis by way of Getty Photos

With the U.S. presidential election quickly approaching at a time of extraordinary political and social disruption, the potential for an unclear or contested result’s coming beneath scrutiny.

Not like many different international locations, the place the president or prime minister is chosen by direct in style vote, within the U.S., a candidate might win the favored vote and nonetheless not be elected to the nation’s highest workplace. The U.S. additionally differs from most different democracies in that it has no impartial electoral fee to certify the ultimate vote rely.

So who really confirms the winner?

Step #1: Earlier than Election Day

American democracy has many elected officers – state, native and nationwide – and plenty of processes for moving into workplace.

I’ve been engaged on election campaigns since I used to be eight years previous, when my dad ran for varsity board and I went door to door asking folks to vote for him. I’ve additionally labored on native, congressional, senate and presidential races and now direct an educational analysis heart on politics.

What’s hanging is that each race is totally different, from deadlines and submitting course of to certification. Right here, I’ll focus right here on the presidential race.

The weird and complex presidential election certification course of within the U.S. entwines all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the Senate, Home of Representatives, the Nationwide Archives and the Workplace of the Federal Register. It additionally includes the Electoral School – a uniquely American establishment that convenes in 51 separate places as soon as each 4 years to choose the president.

Licensed presidential election outcomes are saved in perpetuity on the Nationwide Archives.

UpstateNYer by way of Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

This four-month course of was customized as a compromise by the Founding Fathers, who didn’t consider the American folks ought to straight select the president and vp however didn’t wish to give Congress the facility of choice, both.

The Structure declares that American presidential elections happen on the primary Tuesday in November, each 4 years. However the federal election course of really begins in October, when the Archivist of america – a presidential appointee answerable for sustaining the federal government’s most necessary official paperwork – sends a letter to the governor of every state.

The doc outlines their duties relating to the Electoral School, which isn’t a spot however a course of by which electors – people who find themselves chosen by their occasion – vote for his or her occasion’s presidential candidate.

The equipment of the Electoral School is difficult, however in brief Individuals vote for electors and the electors vote for the president. Then, the winner is said – proper?

Learn extra:

How is the American President elected?

Step #2: After Election Day

Not fairly.

As soon as a closing tally of voters’ in-person, mail-in and provisional ballots has been concluded, all 50 governors put together their state’s Certificates of Ascertainment, a doc itemizing their electors for the competing candidates.

Every state completes that course of at its personal price. This yr, due to the pandemic, finalizing the electoral vote rely will probably take so much longer. As soon as accomplished, copies of the Certificates of Ascertainment are then submitted to the U.S. Archivist.

After the governor submits names to the Archivist, every state’s Electoral School electors meet within the state capital – D.C.‘s meet in D.C. – to formally solid their votes for president and vp on the primary Monday after the second Wednesday in December. This yr, that’s Dec. 14, 2020.

In ways in which differ state by state, every state’s electors then prepares six Certificates of Vote, that are despatched by registered mail to the President of the U.S. Senate and the Archivist of america. The remaining 4 certificates are despatched to state officers.

That fulfills the Electoral School’s duties till the following presidential election.

Colorado members of the Electoral School signal their Certificates of Vote, Dec.19, 2016, in Denver.

Joe Amon/The Denver Submit by way of Getty Photos

Step #3: Congress meets

On Jan. 6, Congress convenes to rely the electoral votes and certify the winner of the election.

As a result of the sitting vp additionally serves as president of the Senate, Mike Pence will preside over this rely in 2021, simply as Vice President Joe Biden did in January 2017 when Donald Trump formally turned president-elect. Every state, referred to as upon in alphabetical order, recordsdata its votes.

This course of is in some respects ceremonial, as a result of by January the media has declared a winner and normally a concession speech has been given. However, formally, it’s the second of reality.

On the finish of the Senate’s electoral vote rely, the vp broadcasts the outcomes and asks if there are any objections. In 2001 Democratic Home representatives tried for 20 minutes to dam Florida’s extremely contested electoral votes for George W. Bush.

On Jan. 6, 2001, as George W. Bush was licensed as President of america, members of the Congressional Black Caucus tried in useless to object to the election outcome.

That effort failed, as a result of objections should be signed by each a member of the Home and the Senate earlier than being voted on by each chambers of Congress. It fell to Vice President Al Gore, as president of the Senate, to declare Bush – his Republican opponent – the winner of the 2000 election.

After the Senate certifies the election outcomes, all of the Certificates of Ascertainment and Certificates of Vote then change into accessible for public overview on the Workplace of the Federal Registrar for one yr, then transferred to the Nationwide Archives for the everlasting file. Those that query the end result of a U.S. election, in different phrases, can really double-check the tabulations themselves.

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Within the extraordinary occasion that no candidate wins within the Electoral School, the Home of Representatives meets to elect the following president. That is how John Quincy Adams turned president in 1824.

Established nearly 250 years in the past, this advanced course of is a basis of American democracy. Many have questioned whether or not this antiquated system actually represents the desire of the folks in trendy America.

However for 2020, it stays the method that can resolve the presidential race.

Amy Dacey is the Former CEO of the Democratic Nationwide Committee. She has donated to a number of Democratic campaigns within the 2020 election cycle.