Certification of this year’s presidential results begins quietly, unlike the 2020 election

ATLANTA – Local officials begin to certify this year’s results presidential election It’s been a quiet process so far, in stark contrast to the tumultuous certification period that followed the loss of then-President Donald Trump four years ago.

Georgia became the first of the presidential battleground states to begin certification as local election boards voted throughout the day on Tuesday. As counties unequivocally certified their results, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger hailed Georgia’s elections as “free, fair and fast.”

Trump won Georgia and six other presidential battleground states to lose six of them to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. County certification meetings are scheduled for later in the week in several other swing states (Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin).

The lack of certification drama so far this week is a return to how the typically routine process worked before Trump lost his re-election bid four years ago. At the time, he and his allies were trying to subvert the will of the voters. Republican members were pressured certification boards in michigan To delay or stop the process. They also called delay certificates In Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

Boards ultimately voted for certification, but Trump focused on certification Caught among Republicans. Some local Republican officials refused to confirm election results since then, Raising concerns of the broader movement Declining certification this year caused Trump to lose to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Some of that sentiment was present Tuesday. Michael Heekin, a Republican member of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, said he disagreed with the idea that certifying election results was “purely a ministerial duty.”

“We should be the first line of defense, or at least one of the lines of defense, in examining the goodness and accuracy of the election,” he said.

An attorney for the county, which includes predominantly Democratic Atlanta, explained during the meeting that certification was a necessary step before any election challenge could proceed. The county election board certified the results late Tuesday.

Unlike Trump four years ago, Harris admitted his loss and he accepted. Trump also won the popular vote for the first time in his three races for the White House and praised the election results. Instead of going to the vote counting centers in the district in anger, his supporters were in joy.

“About this time four years ago, I was getting nasty phone calls in my office all the time,” said Lisa Tollefson, elections clerk in Rock County, Wisconsin. This year “has been very quiet,” he said.

This doesn’t mean everyone is happy. Conspiracy theories about this year’s elections are circulating within both parties.

Following Election Day, left-wing conspiracy theories proliferated on TikTok, X, and other social platforms as users questioned why Harris’ vote total was around 60 million; That was about 20 million fewer votes than Biden received four years ago.

Some right-wing accounts twisted the narrative, falsely claiming that the vote difference was evidence that Biden’s 2020 tally must include fake votes.

The allegations did not take into account reality tabulation will take a few daysThey include Arizona and California, the nation’s most populous state. As votes continue to be counted this week, Harris has laid the groundwork and now approximately 72 million votesa number that will continue to grow.

Counties and other local governments across the country will conduct post-election audits over the next few weeks. These typically involve counting a certain number of ballots by hand and comparing the results with machine counts to ensure accuracy.

Before local results are certified, the top election official usually provides vote totals by candidate in each race, how many voters cast ballots, and how many total votes were cast. Any discrepancies are reported and explained.

“The whole point of this period is to find these kinds of errors,” said Kim Wyman, a former top election official in Washington state. “They make sure the results are right, the election is right.”

Every state, including presidential battlegrounds, will go through this process.

Election certification meetings begin Wednesday in Nevada, which is backing a Republican in the presidential race for the first time in 20 years. The state’s 17 counties have until Friday to approve the certification, while Democratic Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar and the Nevada Supreme Court must meet by Nov. 26 to finalize the statewide results.

Arizona’s 15 counties must certify by Nov. 21 and transmit the results to the governor and secretary of state, both Democrats, for statewide certification four days later.

In North Carolina, where election officials are recovering quickly after Hurricane Helene devastated the western part of the state, election boards in all 100 counties are scheduled to meet Friday to certify results.

Pennsylvania counties have until Nov. 25 to approve the document. Some larger counties were still examining and counting provisional ballots on Tuesday, the deadline for them to report unofficial results to the state. The trial was made possible as the U.S. Senate race is near the threshold for an automatic statewide recount.

Michigan’s 83 county boards of elections must review local results by Nov. 19 before forwarding them to the State Board of Canvassers. The four-member panel, consisting of two Democrats and two Republicans, is scheduled to certify the results by Nov. 25.

In Wisconsin, counties began the canvassing process on Tuesday and have until Nov. 19 to approve the document. The Wisconsin Elections Commission will review the county reports and the chairman, currently a Democrat, will certify the results by Dec. 1.

The biggest potential problem in the state was identified and fixed on Election Day. Vote tabulation machines used to vote by mail in Milwaukee were not properly sealed. Once the issue was resolved, a bipartisan decision was made to restart the vote counting process.

Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top nonpartisan elections administrator, said the election was a success with no major problems. He attributed this to years of training and preparation by local election workers.

“Well-run elections do not happen by chance,” he said.

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Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix; Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan; Christine Fernando in Chicago; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

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