It is the last step to close the United States presidential election process and definitively clears the way for the president's inauguration on January 20. What makes this constitutional ritual transcendent? Here we tell you.
In a solemn ceremony, this Monday, January 6, legislators from both Houses of Congress will meet at noon under the strictest possible national security level to certify election results of the 50 states and the District of Columbia that will make the victory at the polls of President-elect Donald Trump on November 5.
The constitutional mandate indicates that the vice president, as leader of the Senate, must declare the winner of the American presidential election. Vice President Kamala Harris, a former Democratic candidate defeated in the last elections, will fulfill this mandate, while members of Congress will count the results – already known – from each state to confirm the presidential transfer of command.
Why has this ceremony previously considered a formal procedure acquired significance?
On January 6, 2021, supporters of President Donald Trump, defeated at the polls by current President Joe Biden in 2020, They attacked the Capitol with the aim of boycotting the official results ceremony at that time, with images that went around the world.
The then Vice President Mike Pence was in the Capitol carrying out his duty, and became a potential target of the rioters, so he was evacuated. The ceremony was suspended and the 435 House delegates and 100 senators that make up the US Congress hid in the safe areas of the building, while the police force confronted the rioters outside and inside.
The final balance left five dead; hundreds of people arrested and convicted for the crime of damaging government property, for theft, as well as for corruptly obstructing, influencing or impeding an official procedure or attempting to do so.
This Monday, although there are no signs of disturbances, the ceremony has been classified as “a national special security event” by the Secret Service and government agencies.
The Capitol announced days before the plan to close streets around the legislative precinct in a phased plan to guarantee the realization of the event without interruptions, with significant improvements compared to four years ago.
“The eyes of the world will be on the US Capitol on January 6. “Elected officials across the country have faced a heightened threat environment in recent years, so we cannot take any chances when it comes to protecting members of Congress,” said J. Thomas Manger, head of the Capitol Police in a statement.
And he added that the lessons left in 2021 They have forced better coordination to secure the legislative headquarters. “Over the past four years, our men and women have worked around the clock to build a stronger Department by hiring hundreds of additional officers and support staff, as well as improving our operational planning, intelligence, equipment and training.”
For his part, the Secret Service announced that since September, when the results certification ceremony was designated for this day, it is the first time that one of the formal events in the presidential transition has been classified in this “special security” category at the request of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser.
“The United States Secret Service, in collaboration with our federal, state and local partners, is committed to developing and implementing a comprehensive and integrated security plan to ensure the safety of this event and its participants,” said Eric Ranaghan, chief of staff. of the Secret Service's Dignitary Protection Division.
What will the ceremony be like this Monday in Congress?
federal law orders Congress to meet to open the sealed certificates of each state brought to Washington and containing the record of their electoral votes.
The delegates enter the venue when the session has settled with the votes kept in mahogany wooden boxes used for this ceremony, forming a procession.
Vice President Harris will open and present the electoral vote certificates in alphabetical order, the so-called “tellers” members of the House of Representatives and the Senate representing the two Democratic and Republican parties will then read each certificate aloud and proceed to record and count the votes.
The ritual indicates that once this stage is over, the president of Congress announces the winner, both for president and vice president. In this case Kamala Harris will announce Donald Trump's victory with 312 electoral votes against Harris' 226 last November.
How much has changed compared to 2021?
The lessons learned in 2021 led Congress to tighten the rules for the certification of votes, in the face of former President Donald Trump's attempts to ignore the results that prevented him from winning in 2020.
The Electoral Recount Act was passed in 2022 and more explicitly defines the role to be played by the vice president in the ceremony, after Trump put public pressure on Vice President Pence to ignore the results.
On January 6, 2017, then Vice President Joe Biden, certified the results, but not before putting order in the Democratic ranks that also asked to reject Trump's victory, in the face of complaints from legislators he said that “this is not a debate” and in the face of insistence he closed with the lapidary phrase It's over (It's over (It is over).
Therefore, the new updated law clarifies that the vice president does not have the power to determine the results of the November elections, it places him on protocol paper to comply with the constitutional order and contribute to the formality this January 6 as the last step to the presidential transfer to next day the 20th.