Some days are momentous for what occurs on them. Others, for what they represent. Our democracy relies on both.
Federal Election Day is set by law as the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November in even numbered years. Each state sets its own dates for elections to be certified. In presidential elections, there are even more specific dates. For example, this year, Dec. 11 is the date by which each state’s governor must sign the official certificate of ascertainment.
The most recent, and most critical of those dates, was last Tuesday, Dec. 17. On that one day, presidential electors met in their states to officially select the next president and vice-president of the United States. Before those meetings, Donald Trump was the presumptive president-elect. After that day, it can be said with legal certainty that he will be sworn as the 47th president at noon on Jan. 20, 2025.
The rest of it is really all paperwork. By Dec. 25, the electoral votes must be received by the Senate and national archives. On Jan. 3, the new Congress will be sworn in. On Jan. 6, that new Congress will perform the ministerial task of counting the electoral votes.
This is the pageantry of American democracy. A series of meetings and forms to count and certify the results we already know. In most years it is unremarkable. In 2020, it wasn't. That is because four years ago, the losing candidate attacked the pageantry of democracy. First in the media, then in court and finally by instigating a violent insurrection.
