The results reported right after the presidential election were reliable, but they were not official. In the weeks since Election Day, officials in every state have been verifying the vote tallies, a process called certification.
The Trump campaign’s unsuccessful strategy was to try to delay the certification processes in the key battleground states that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. won. As of Nov. 30, all of those states had certified their results.
Most states have already certified their election results, and Tuesday was “safe harbor day”—the legal deadline where if states have their elections resolved Congress must honor their electors. Next week, the Electoral College will officially vote, making Biden’s election victory that much more official. Wisconsin is the only state that didn’t make the cut because of an ongoing lawsuit, but it’s expected to have its electors set by the time the Electoral College votes.
