The Electoral College is the unique American system of electing presidents. It is different from the popular vote, and it has an outsize impact on how candidates run and win campaigns.

This presidential election will be the first since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.

To voters in many other democracies, the process of electing a president in the U.S. is a head-scratcher.

Felony forgery charges have been filed in Wisconsin against two attorneys and an aide who helped submit paperwork falsely saying that former President Donald Trump had won the battleground state in 2020.

Ten Republicans who posed as fake electors for former President Donald Trump in Wisconsin and filed paperwork falsely saying he had won the battleground state have settled a civil lawsuit and admitted their actions were part of an effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory.

Georgia lawmakers face multiple key decisions on the final scheduled day of their 2022 session.

State attorneys general and the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol are digging deeper into the role that fake slates of electors played in the desperate effort by former President Donald Trump to cling to power after his 2020 defeat.

Former President Donald Trump is intensifying his effort to advance the false narrative that his vice president, Mike Pence, could have done something to prevent Joe Biden from taking office.

The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection has subpoenaed more than a dozen individuals who it says falsely tried to declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election.

Partisan election reviews of the 2020 presidential election are underway in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin while Republican lawmakers elsewhere continue their calls to bring them to their states.

Nebraska's Republican-controlled legislature is considering changes to the congressional map that would give them an edge in a competitive congressional seat — and the presidential election.

The Pentagon is taking a rare look at whether it is properly prepared for an emergency in which the portable communications system nicknamed the “nuclear football," which always accompanies the president, is lost or stolen.

Officials in Arizona’s largest county plan to stop using voting machines turned over to contractors hired by Republican state senators for a partisan audit of the 2020 election.

The House Ethics Committee has announced an investigation into Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Republicans solidly oppose the $15 minimum wage target as an expense that would hurt businesses and cost jobs. “House Democrats believe that the minimum wage hike is necessary. Therefore, this provision will remain in the" bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said. The overall relief bill is Biden’s first legislative priority. The relief bill would provide millions of people with $1,400 direct payments.

In this image from video, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., speaks as the House debates the objection to confirm the Electoral College vote from Pennsylvania, at the U.S. Capitol early Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (House Television via AP)WASHINGTON – Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump, is launching a political action committee to push back against a House GOP leadership team and party that he says have become too closely aligned to the former president. And I think most Republicans didn’t sign up for that.”“It doesn’t mean we don’t need to fight back, you know, to defend what we believe, conservative principles,” he added. “Republicans must say enough is enough," Kinzinger says in the video. “It’s time to unplug the outrage machine, reject the politics of personality, and cast aside the conspiracy theories and the rage.”

___5:40 p.m.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer vows there will be an impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, even if it’s after he leaves office and Democrat Joe Biden is inaugurated. ___1:05 p.m.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is suggesting that President Donald Trump should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting Arab-Israeli peace. ___12:45 p.m.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Donald Trump represents a “clear and present danger” to the nation and must be impeached. The debate is heated almost from the start as the House sets up a vote to impeach President Donald Trump. ___8:15 a.m.Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger is predicting more Republicans will join him in voting to impeach President Donald Trump.

Violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol Wednesday, disrupting the process. Scott Applewhite, Pool)WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence has ruled out invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from power. In a letter (below in full) late Tuesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Pence said the mechanism should not be used “as a means of punishment or usurpation” and reserved for cases of medical or mental incapacitation. Pelosi has called on Pence to secure the majority of the Cabinet and vote to declare Trump unfit to serve. Pelosi has said if Pence rejects use of the 25th Amendment, the House will move to impeach him.

Protesters, newspaper editorial boards and local-level Democrats have urged the lawmakers to step down or for their colleagues to kick them out. The House and Senate can remove members with a two-thirds vote or censure or reprimand with a majority. In St. Louis on Saturday, several hundred people protested against Sen. Josh Hawley, the first-term Missouri Republican who led efforts in the Senate to overturn Biden's election. Johnson initially supported Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, but after the riot, he voted in favor of Biden's win. Perry condemned the Capitol violence.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – News4Jax political analyst Rick Mullaney of Jacksonville University’s Public Policy Institute, Florida Sen. Audrey Gibson, U.S. Rep. John Rutherford and News4Jax anchor Tom Wills join this edition of “This Week in Jacksonville” as they discuss the invasion of the halls of Congress, objections to Electoral College votes and whether impeachment should be attempted. In addition, former advisor to President Donald Trump, Omarosa Manigault Newman, provides her perspective on the breach of the U.S. Capitol.

This was a big day, especially for the House and Senate leadership lane, one of my specialties. Smith Goes to Washington” you've seen my work area since a press gallery scene from the movie was filmed there more than 70 years ago. (The Senate chamber, however, was a soundstage). The mob was out of the building by then and, strangely, it almost seemed boring, waiting for the Capitol to be declared safe. The Daily Press Gallery where I work had not been breached.

One Republican lawmaker publicly called for invoking the 25th Amendment to force Trump from office before Biden is inaugurated. Others said there must be a review of the U.S. Capitol Police's inability to prevent the breach of the complex by the protesters. The support Trump has received for his efforts to overturn the election results have badly strained the nation’s democratic guardrails. Some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering in place in their offices. The Pentagon said about 1,100 District of Columbia National Guard members were being mobilized to help support law enforcement at the Capitol.

Multiple Republican senators reversed course Wednesday evening, saying they won’t object to congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Their change of heart came after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol earlier Wednesday and interrupted their proceedings. “The events that transpired have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors,” Loeffler said. Lawmakers gathered to certify the Electoral College votes from each state were forced to evacuate after an angry mob of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol. She lost her Senate race to Democrat Raphael Warnock earlier Wednesday.

Many then surged to the Capitol after he incited them to go there as lawmakers debated the electoral votes. Cruz led the first challenge to Joe Biden’s defeat of President Donald Trump by objecting to Arizona’s results. President Donald Trump has falsely claimed there was widespread fraud in Pennsylvania and other states and Republicans have echoed those claims as they have challenged electoral votes. Hawley said last week that he would object to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes, saying Congress should investigate voter fraud. Scores of Republican representatives and 13 GOP senators had planned to object Wednesday to the electoral votes of perhaps six states that backed Biden.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., leaves the House chamber for the Senate to consider objections to certify Electoral College votes, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. All 50 states have certified the electoral votes. Freshman Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has said he will challenge Pennsylvania's electoral votes. Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia were all pivotal states that Biden carried on his way to his 306-232 Electoral College win. McConnell, 78, has been the Republican leader since 2007 and is the longest-serving Senate GOP leader in history.

Some Republican lawmakers were in the midst of raising objections to the results on his behalf when the proceedings were abruptly halted by the mob. Together, the protests and the GOP election objections amounted to an almost unthinkable challenge to American democracy and exposed the depths of the divisions that have coursed through the country during Trump’s four years in office. Before dawn Thursday, lawmakers completed their work, confirming Biden won the presidential election. In the aftermath, several Republicans announced they would drop their objections to the election, including Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., who lost her bid for reelection Tuesday. Some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering in place in their offices.

Though he got nothing but cheers Monday night, Trump's attempt to overturn the presidential election i s splitting the Republican Party. Trump repeated numerous times his claims of election fraud, which have been rejected by election officials — Republican as well as Democratic in state after state — and courts up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Two current Republican senators, Rob Portman of Ohio and Mike Lee of Utah, joined the growing number who now oppose the legislators' challenge. Larry Hogan of Maryland; Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House GOP leader; and former House Speaker Paul Ryan — have criticized the GOP efforts to overturn the election. Cruz's coalition of 11 Republican senators vows to reject the Electoral College tallies unless Congress launches a commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results.

Of the more than 50 lawsuits the president and his allies have filed challenging election results, nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. Other prominent former officials also criticized the ongoing attack on election results. Cruz's coalition of 11 Republican senators vows to reject the Electoral College tallies unless Congress launches a commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results. The convening of the joint session to count the Electoral College votes has faced objections before. States choose their own election officials and draft their election laws.

Caught in the middle is Vice President Mike Pence, who faces growing pressure and a lawsuit from Trump's allies over his ceremonial role in presiding over the session Wednesday. Biden is set to be inaugurated Jan. 20 after winning the Electoral College vote 306-232. “A suit to establish that the Vice President has discretion over the count, filed against the Vice President, is a walking legal contradiction,” the department argues. The Republican leader pointedly called on Hawley to answer questions about his challenge to Biden's victory, according to two of the Republicans. When Biden was vice president, he, too, presided over the session as the Electoral College presented the 2016 vote tally to Congress to confirm Trump the winner.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – The congressional joint session to count electoral votes is generally a routine, ceremonious affair. Under federal law, Congress must meet Jan. 6 to open sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes. The Constitution requires Congress to meet and count the electoral votes. The presiding officer opens and presents the certificates of the electoral votes in alphabetical order of the states. The tellers then record and count the votes, and the presiding officer announces who has won the majority votes for both president and vice president.

“As conservative media proliferated, it put a lot more pressure on the hosts to move to the right and embrace warfare politics,” Rosenwald said. This is a business.”Hemmer said she expects the Electoral College vote will begin to shift the narrative from “the election is undecided" to “the election was stolen.”The difficulty of that transition was evident in coverage of the Electoral College voting. With Congress meeting Jan. 6 to formally count the Electoral College vote, Kelly said, “the way I read it, we won't have a president-elect until then.”CNN treated it like a second election night, keeping a running tally of Electoral College votes on the screen. The Electoral College vote led Bret Baier's newscast, which was not a given considering COVID-19 vaccinations began Monday. Meanwhile, daytime anchor Bill Hemmer's hourlong newscast didn't even mention the Electoral College.

Then he pivoted, privately warning Republican senators away from disputing the Electoral College tally when Congress convenes in a joint session Jan. 6 to confirm the results. “I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said as he opened the Senate. Some GOP lawmakers have vowed to carry the fight to Jan. 6 when Congress votes to accept or reject the Electoral College results. One House Republican, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, is planning to challenge the Electoral College results when Congress convenes for the joint session. The GOP leaders further warned senators that forcing their colleagues into a vote on Electoral College challenges would prove difficult, especially for those facing their own reelections in 2022.

President-elect Joe Biden speaks after the Electoral College formally elected him as president, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del. The presidential electors gave Biden a solid majority of 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232, the same margin that Trump bragged was a landslide when he won the White House four years ago. California’s 55 electoral votes put Biden over the top. Republicans who would have been Trump electors met anyway in a handful of states Biden won. With the exception of Maine and Nebraska, states award all their Electoral College votes to the winner of the popular vote in their state.

He said Monday’s Electoral College vote “was significant.”Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn said barring further legal challenges it appears Biden will be president. Others have said Trump's legal battles should continue toward resolution by inauguration day, Jan. 20. "Once the Electoral College has voted, most people are going to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect." "Although I supported President Trump, the Electoral College vote today makes clear that Joe Biden is now President-Elect,” said Sen. Many Republicans are unwilling to declare Biden the winner for the same reasons they avoided standing up to Trump during his presidency.

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)WASHINGTON – For weeks, President Donald Trump has put America's democratic institutions under unprecedented strain as he fights to hold power despite losing his bid for reelection. On Monday, the Electoral College did its part, formally confirming President-elect Joe Biden's victory over Trump. Anything less than certification of Biden's victory would amount to an unprecedented undermining of a free and fair American election. After both governors certified the Democrat’s victory, Trump cast them as traitors to his cause. Shortly after Biden's Electoral College victory was confirmed, Trump announced that Barr was departing the administration before Christmas.

ATLANTA – Georgia’s 16 Electoral College votes have been cast for Democrat Joe Biden for president. The state’s Democratic electors, including former candidate for governor Stacey Abrams, met in the state Senate chamber on Monday. Abrams then read out the results to the other electors, which included several state lawmakers and Democratic activists. The vote formally seals Biden’s win in Georgia, the battleground state where he beat President Donald Trump by about 12,000 votes. The Republicans chosen to be electors if Trump won met in a committee room downstairs and cast their votes for Trump.

FINAL TALLY OF ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES:Democrat Joe Biden: 306Republican Donald Trump: 232___7:55 p.m.President-elect Joe Biden says local election officials and workers endured threats of violence and verbal abuse while ensuring that democracy prevailed in the November election. ___6:30 p.m.Two more top Republican senators are acknowledging that Democrat Joe Biden won the presidential election. And Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt flatly says, “Vice President Biden is the president-elect.”Blunt is a member of the Senate GOP leadership. Both men spoke the day the Electoral College formally awarded Biden the electoral votes needed to become president. Once it does, Democrat Joe Biden will reach his final total of 306 electoral votes.

President-elect Joe Biden speaks after the Electoral College formally elected him as president, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del. California’s 55 electoral votes put Biden over the top. Georgia state police were out in force at the state Capitol in Atlanta before Democratic electors pledged to Biden met. Republicans who would have been Trump electors met anyway in a handful of states Biden won. With the exception of Maine and Nebraska, states award all their Electoral College votes to the winner of the popular vote in their state.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – More than two dozen loyal Republicans gathered in the Senate chamber of the Florida Capitol on Monday afternoon and cast the state’s 29 votes in the Electoral College for President Donald Trump. The 29 electors -- many of them current or former elected or party officials -- were submitted to Gov. Ron DeSantis on Aug. 31 and earned a seat in the chamber when Trump won the most votes in Florida in the Nov. 3 election. Had Joe Biden carried the state, a slate of 29 prominent Democrats selected as that party’s electors would be voting Monday instead and, based on the certified popular vote, Biden will win 306 electoral votes to 232 votes for Trump. That fact made Monday a bittersweet day for Dr. Roy Hinman, of St. Augustine, who case one of Florida’s 29 votes for Trump.

That's when the Electoral College meets. Some questions and answers about the Electoral College:WHAT EXACTLY IS THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? In drafting the Constitution, America's founders struggled with how the new nation should choose its leader and ultimately created the Electoral College system. WHAT'S THE BEEF WITH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? The Electoral College has been the subject of criticism for more than two centuries.

That's when the Electoral College meets. Some questions and answers about the Electoral College:WHAT EXACTLY IS THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? In drafting the Constitution, America's founders struggled with how the new nation should choose its leader and ultimately created the Electoral College system. WHAT'S THE BEEF WITH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? The Electoral College has been the subject of criticism for more than two centuries.

This year's presidential race provides the latest motivation for change to supporters of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. It would compel member states to award their electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote. Under the Electoral College, each state's number of electoral votes equals the size of its congressional delegation. “Nonetheless, National Popular Vote is working to obtain support for the compact in Congress.”After Bush and Trump won the White House despite losing the popular vote, the push to change the system has become more partisan. A national popular vote measure, for example, passed the Republican-controlled New York Senate back then, but didn’t get through the Democrat-controlled Assembly.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court court previously refused to hear Trump’s state case before it went through the lower courts. A majority of justices have also openly questioned whether disqualifying the ballots, as Trump wants, would be appropriate. Trump also has a federal lawsuit in Wisconsin where the judge could rule as soon as Friday. Devaney also said Trump “cynically” targeted ballots cast in Wisconsin’s two most urban, non-white counties for disqualification. On Friday evening, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Texas lawsuit that sought to invalidate Biden's win by throwing out millions of votes in four battleground states, including Wisconsin.

That's when the Electoral College meets. Some questions and answers about the Electoral College:WHAT EXACTLY IS THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? In drafting the Constitution, America's founders struggled with how the new nation should choose its leader and ultimately created the Electoral College system. WHAT'S THE BEEF WITH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? The Electoral College has been the subject of criticism for more than two centuries.

Kathy Kratt of Orlando, Fla., displays her Trump flags as she and other protesters demonstrate their support for President Donald Trump at the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Trump bemoaned the decision late Friday, tweeting: “The Supreme Court really let us down. Two days after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed his suit, Trump jumped into the high court case. “If the Supreme Court shows great Wisdom and Courage, the American People will win perhaps the most important case in history, and our Electoral Process will be respected again!” he tweeted Friday afternoon. Many Republican voters in several states won by Biden have demanded that their elected officials find a way to invalidate the president-elect's victories.

HONOLULU – Hawaii on Tuesday certified the results of its presidential vote after the state Supreme Court dismissed an elections complaint challenging the entirety of the Nov. 3 general election in the islands. President-elect Joe Biden won 63.1% of Hawaii’s vote, compared to President Donald Trump’s 34%, according to the final summary report from the state Office of Elections. The pending court case had held up certification of the presidential vote for more than two weeks. The plaintiffs alleged the state’s non-partisan Office of Elections violated state law when they implemented the state’s new vote-by-mail system this year. Hawaii’s elections are administered by the Office of Elections, a state agency that reports to the bipartisan Hawaii State Elections Commission.

The safe harbor deadline is six days earlier. Judge Stephen Simanek, appointed to hear the case, has acknowledged that the case would push the state outside the electoral vote safe harbor. The safe harbor provision played a prominent role in the Bush v. Gore case after the 2000 presidential election. The Supreme Court shut down Florida’s state-court-ordered recount because the safe harbor deadline was approaching. When Florida's electoral votes, decisive in Bush's victory, reached Congress, several Black House members protested, but no senators joined in.

California certified its presidential election Friday and appointed 55 electors pledged to vote for Democrat Joe Biden, officially handing him the Electoral College majority needed to win the White House. There have been no suggestions that any of Biden's pledged electors would contemplate not voting for him. Results of the Electoral College vote are due to be received, and typically approved, by Congress on Jan. 6. Trump has fruitlessly tried to stop those states from certifying Biden as the winner and appointing electors for the former vice president. If they don't, the electors appointed by the states' governors — all pledged to Biden in these cases — must be used.

He filed another one in state court, which the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear before it first goes through lower courts. “I have a very, very hard time seeing how this is justiciable in the federal court,” Ludwig, a Trump appointee, said. Bush saying, “Not gonna do it.”In his state lawsuit, Trump is seeking to disqualify 221,000 ballots he claims were cast illegally. Jim Troupis, Trump's attorney in the state lawsuit, argued his case should take precedent over the federal lawsuit, where Troupis is not the attorney. Two others filed by Trump allies — one in federal court and one in state court — remain.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump still won't bring himself to concede the election he decisively lost to President-elect Joe Biden. But he's now acknowledging he will leave the White House if Biden's win is affirmed by the Electoral College, which is firmly on track to do just that in a few weeks. “Certainly I will," he said Thursday when asked if he will vacate the premises after electors make Biden's win formal. No concession is needed from Trump for Biden to become president, none has been offered and Trump may never admit he was beaten fair and square. “Because we know there was massive fraud.”Electors “will have made a mistake” by affirming Biden's win, he said.

States have begun certifying their results from the Nov. 3 presidential election in the run-up to the Electoral College meeting in mid-December. Both states and their 16 electoral votes went to Biden. A total of 16 states have so far certified their results, awarding President-elect Joe Biden 54 of his 306 Electoral College votes and Trump 73 of his 232 votes. All states must certify before the Electoral College meets on Dec. 14, and any challenge to the results must be resolved by Dec. 8. Biden won by wide margins in both the Electoral College and popular vote, where he received nearly 80 million votes, a record.

The delay has the potential to upend civic norms, impede Biden’s transition to the White House and sow doubt in the nation’s civic and election systems. Trump would need to produce ample evidence of impropriety to undo Biden’s lead, which appears unlikely. During a closed-door lunch, Vice President Mike Pence told Senate Republicans about the legal strategy. Trump and his GOP allies haven’t offered evidence of election fraud, and their legal challenges have largely been rejected by the courts. McConnell noted the potential turmoil during the transition in praising ousted Defense Secretary Mark Esper, whom Trump fired on Monday.

Democrat Joe Biden has been declared the winner in both Pennsylvania and Nevada, eclipsing the 270 Electoral College votes threshold to become the projected winner of the presidential race and end President Donald Trump’s tenure after just one term. Biden took the lead early Friday in both Georgia and Pennsylvania. The Associated Press called Pennsylvania for Biden on Saturday morning to give him enough electoral votes to win. Biden was on track to win the national popular vote by more than 4 million, a margin that could grow as ballots continue to be counted. With Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes and the six from Nevada, Biden is now at 290, according to the AP.

Here, Colleen Long, a national reporter in the Washington bureau of The Associated Press who is leading coverage of the legal challenges, breaks down how these lawsuits could affect the presidential election. In Pennsylvania and Michigan, the campaign wanted to temporarily halt vote counting until Republicans got more oversight of the tally. Election law experts and state election officials have overwhelmingly said there has been no sign of widespread or even sporadic voter fraud. Bush v. Gore in 2000 was a good example of how litigation can affect the outcome of an election. ___PREVIOUS AP STORIES ON THE 2020 ELECTION AND LEGAL CHALLENGES:— Taking a stand has new meaning in heavily litigated election— Just over a week before the US election, lawsuits linger

WHAT BIDEN SAIDBiden also addressed his supporters in the middle of the night, pleading for their patience while the votes are counted. “It ain’t over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted,” Biden said. LEGAL CHALLENGESThe Trump campaign says it has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan, demanding better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted. Trump, meanwhile, won overwhelming support from white and rural supporters to turn out voters in the places that powered his victory four years ago. In some competitive states, like Nevada and Florida, Trump ate away at Biden’s support among Latinos.

A full day after Election Day, neither candidate had cleared the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Trump’s campaign requested a recount, though statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes. After the victories in Wisconsin and Michigan, he was just six Electoral College votes away from the presidency. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said the president would formally request a Wisconsin recount, citing “irregularities" in several counties. The Trump campaign on Wednesday pushed Republican donors to dig deeper into their pockets to help finance legal challenges.

IS THERE A DEADLINE BY WHICH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE MUST OFFICIALLY HAVE ALL ITS VOTES IN? Election Day is only one point in the process of the Electoral College, which decides who wins a U.S. presidential race. After the polls close, states begin to count and certify popular vote results according to their respective rules. Electoral College electors in each state don’t vote until Dec. 14. Certificates recording the electoral vote results in each state must be received by the president of the Senate and the archivist no later than Dec. 23.

WASHINGTON – Joe Biden has won Michigan and Wisconsin, pushing him closer to 270 Electoral College votes and narrowing President Donald Trump’s possible path to reelection. Both Michigan and Wisconsin represent parts of the “blue wall” that slipped away from Democrats four years ago, paving the way for Trump’s election. A full day after Election Day, neither candidate had cleared the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Margins remained tight in several fiercely contested states including the Great Lakes battlegrounds of Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump’s campaign requested a recount, in addition to filing lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

WASHINGTON – The Electoral College is how the framers of the U.S. Constitution set up how we elect presidents. Four candidates in history have won the popular vote only to be denied the presidency by the Electoral College. The Electoral College was devised at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. 29 in Florida | 16 in GeorgiaTo be elected president, the winner must get at least half plus one — or 270 electoral votes. It would take a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College — an unlikely move because of how difficult it is to pass and ratify constitutional changes.

“I wasn't aware of that,” Shirl Mora James, a leader in the Nebraska Democratic Party, said with a sigh. Maine’s sprawling 2nd district is among the nation’s largest and most rural, made up of small farms, coastal communities and vast stretches of forest. The Nebraska district also dips south to older suburbs near Offutt Air Force Base. Polling indicates Biden has a slight lead in the Nebraska district despite trailing badly statewide. And the road to victory runs right through northern Maine,” Pence told a gathering in Hermon, in the 2nd district.

Have you ever wondered why is it that one candidate can win the popular vote but another wins the electoral vote, and thus, the presidency? Four candidates in history have won a majority of the popular vote only to be denied the presidency by the Electoral College. That includes Hillary Clinton, who had the largest popular vote margin of any losing presidential candidate in U.S. history. Graphic shows scenario in which a presidential candidate can win the popular vote but lose the election. It would take a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College -- an unlikely move because of how difficult it is to pass and ratify constitutional changes.

But what happens if a candidate for president dies before Election Day? Instead, they are voting for slates of electors who will pick the president and vice president as members of the Electoral College. In modern U.S. elections, the meeting of the Electoral College is essentially a ceremonial confirmation of the choice made by voters. If no candidate reaches 270 electoral votes, the House chooses the president and the Senate chooses the vice president, in a process spelled out in the Constitution. In 1824, Andrew Jackson won a a plurality of the popular vote and the most Electoral College votes.

“We cannot leave anything to chance,” Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues, emphasizing the importance of winning House seats for Democrats — not just to expand their majority but to prepare for the possibility that the House must settle the presidential race. But if the Electoral College is deadlocked or unable to reach a majority outcome, the question goes to the House as a “contingent election." Each state’s congressional delegation, consisting of the newly elected House lawmakers, casts one vote to determine the presidential outcome, according to the House history website. But as of now, Pelosi explained, Republicans have a “razor thin” margin — 26 of the state delegations, compared with 22 for Democrats. “We must achieve that majority of delegations or keep the Republicans from doing so,” Pelosi wrote.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The state Republican and Democratic parties have named their slates of electors for this year’s presidential election, with the names of current and former lawmakers sprinkled through the lists. EXPLAINED: Electoral College vs popular voteThe Florida Department of State posted the lists Friday on its website. The Republican list includes Florida GOP Chairman Joe Gruters, a state senator from Sarasota; incoming state Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby; state Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples; state Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville; incoming House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor; state Rep. Jason Fischer, R-Jacksonville; state Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay; and state Rep. Daniel Perez, R-Miami. The Democatic list includes Florida Democratic Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo; Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried; former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, D-Fla.; state Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura; and state Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park. Rod Smith, a Gainesville attorney who was a Democratic candidate in the 2016 race for governor, is also on the list.

News Service of FloridaTALLAHASSEE, Fla. - With the 2020 presidential election looming, Florida House members have filed dueling proposals about the Electoral College. Rep. Bob Rommel, R-Naples, filed a proposed resolution (HR 323) last week that would support the preservation of the Electoral College in its current form. Meanwhile, Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, filed a bill (HB 335) last week that calls for Florida to join an agreement with other states to effectively elect the president by a national popular vote. Under the proposal, Florida and other states would certify slates of electors tied to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes nationally. News Service of Florida