Tag Archives: Congress Counts Electoral Votes

Important dates between now and the presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025

Presidential Debate watch party

Important Takeaways:

  • In just over a month, U.S. voters will decide the nation’s 47th president
  • Nov 5, 2024: Election Day
    • Depending on the state, mail-in ballots must either be postmarked by Election Day or received on Election Day. But counting the votes and certifying the results can take days, or even weeks.
  • Dec 11, 2024: Certificate of Ascertainment of Appointment of Electors
    • Every state appoints a certain number of individuals, called electors, who will cast the state’s electoral votes for president and vice president.
    • Electors pledge to vote according to the statewide or district popular vote.
  • Dec 17, 2024: Meeting and vote of electors
    • On the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December — this year, Dec. 17 — the appointed electors must meet in their respective states to cast their votes for president and vice president.
    • They then transmit signed and endorsed certificates attesting to their votes to officials in Washington, D.C., and their state.
  • Dec 25, 2024: Electoral votes received
    • The president of the Senate or the Archivist of the United States should receive the certificates from the electors on the fourth Wednesday in December: this year, Dec. 25.
  • Jan 3, 2025: 119th Congress convenes
    • On Jan. 3, representatives-elect and senators-elect will be sworn into the new Congress. This process happens every two years on this date following federal elections.
    • In the House of Representatives, this is also the day that the Speaker will be elected.
  • Jan 6, 2025: Congress Counts Electoral Votes
    • 6, 2025, is not just the four-year anniversary of the attack on the Capitol.
    • It is the day when the House and Senate will count and tally the electoral certificates in a joint session, starting in the early afternoon. The U.S. Constitution names the vice president as the president of the Senate and formally presides over the receiving and counting of electoral ballots cast in presidential elections and announces the result of the count.
  • Jan 20, 2025: Inauguration Day
    • On Jan. 20, 2025, people will fill the National Mall in D.C. to watch the elected president and vice president be sworn in.
    • They will take their respective oaths of office at the U.S. Capitol starting at 12 p.m. Eastern Time, and after they’ve been sworn in, the transfer of power from the former administration to the new administration is complete.

Read the original article by clicking here.