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The Pennsylvania Department of State has certified its presidential election results and locked in the state’s electors for President-elect Joe Biden.
The vote totals were submitted by all 67 of the state’s counties late Monday, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania State Department, and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar certified the results today.
The presidential election results in Pennsylvania have been up in the air since Election Day, thanks to a prolonged vote count, which took three weeks, and multiple failed legal challenges from President Donald Trump, ABC27 reported.
The state’s final presidential election results showed Biden won by 80,555 votes, according to The Hill.
Biden received 3,458,229 votes, Trump received 3,377,674, and Libertarian Party candidate Jo Jorgenson received 79,380, according to the Pennsylvania State Department.
The president-elect will receive Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes when the Electoral College casts its votes Dec. 14 at the state Capitol, according to ABC27. The state’s electors are a mix of elected Democrats, activists, and other Biden supporters.
With Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes, Biden topped the 270 needed for a candidate to become president and prompted The Associated Press to call the entire election for Biden on Nov. 7, ABC27 reported. The electoral vote total now lies at 306 for Biden and 232 for Trump.
“Today’s certification is a testament to the incredible efforts of our local and state election officials, who worked tirelessly to ensure Pennsylvania had a free, fair and accurate process that reflects the will of the voters,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in the State Department’s news release.
The vote count took so long because of the large increase in mail-in ballots that were cast largely thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, Lancaster Online reported.
Pennsylvania’s certification of its presidential election results comes on the heels of certifications for Biden in Georgia and Michigan — where Trump has also filed lawsuits challenging the election’s outcome, according to The Hill.
The Trump campaign first sued to stop Pennsylvania’s certification of its presidential election results shortly after the state was unofficially called for Biden on Nov. 7.
Trump had alleged there were inconsistencies with how mail-in ballots were counted and said Republican poll watchers weren’t allowed “meaningful access” to observe how votes were being cast.
However, in the days that followed, erratic changes were made to the legal case — claims were dropped (and later re-added), lawyers have come and gone, and new allegations were leveled.
U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann put what was thought to be the final nail in the coffin of Trump’s case in Pennsylvania on Saturday when he dismissed the case with prejudice, saying not only did the lawsuit lack evidence, but offered only “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations,” ABC27 reported.
But the very next day, the Trump campaign appealed the case to the 3rd Circuit, asking for Judge Brann’s dismissal to be overruled and that he be forced to consider an amended version of the lawsuit, and to make it happen quickly in order to stop the state from certifying its presidential election results in the meantime.
The version Judge Brann dismissed was the lawsuit’s third iteration.
Meanwhile, Republicans have become increasingly critical of the president’s ongoing attempts at litigating the presidential election results.
Sen. Mitt Romney called on U.S. citizens to “get behind” Biden, saying he had seen no evidence of the widespread voter fraud alleged by Trump, according to CNN.
“President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey said in a statement after Judge Brann’s ruling, The Hill reported.
Other visible Republicans also have voiced support for recognizing Biden as the president-elect and called on Trump to concede.
The General Services Administration on Monday notified Biden it was prepared to begin the formal transition process, CBS reported.
And while Trump tweeted his thanks to GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, he apparently has not been dissuaded from continuing his fight, saying “the GSA does not determine who the next President of the United States will be.”
In the State Department’s news release, Boockvar said she was grateful to the counties who had worked long hours to ensure “every qualified voter’s vote is counted safely and securely.”
“The county election officials and the poll workers are the true heroes of our democracy, enabling us to vote in record numbers, amid challenging circumstances, so that every eligible voter’s voice could be heard,” Boockvar said.
What are your thoughts on the results of the Pennsylvania presidential election? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
The Trump Campaign Pennsylvania Election Results Appeal is Donald J. Trump for President, et al. v. Kathy Boockvar, et al., Case No. 20-3371, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.
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3 thoughts onPennsylvania Certifies Joe Biden as the Winner of the Presidential Election There
Pennsylvania election was a farce. Cheating and lying. Pennsylvania should’ve had a REVOTE no mail in except absentee like previous elections.
Lying and cheating by democrats.
thank you poll workers God Bless you..