PoliticoMichigan certifies Joe Biden’s win as Donald Trump’s efforts to challenge US election slip
- Decision by the state elections board was made despite the president and Republicans pushing for a delay
- This could be the fatal blow to Trump’s legally dubious efforts to block Biden from attaining the 270 electoral votes he needs to win
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Kyle Cheney and Zach Montellaro on politico.com on November 23, 2020.
US President Donald Trump’s push to subvert the 2020 election results took a potentially fatal hit on Monday, as election officials in Michigan certified President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state and more key battlegrounds prepare to formalise Biden’s wins.
Michigan’s state Board of Canvassers certified the vote with three yes votes and one abstention, a bipartisan decision affirming Biden’s victory over Trump by more than 155,000 votes.
The typically routine exercise took on new significance this year after Trump and his allies pressured the board’s two Republicans to reject certification and seek a delay to investigate “irregularities” in Detroit’s vote counting – allegations that are not supported by any evidence of wrongdoing.
Republicans have also pushed officials in other states to delay certification and have challenged the election results in court, mostly resulting in a string of legal losses.
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Despite the public pressure, one of the two Republican board members joined the Democratic board members to certify the state’s election results, tossing aside the president’s attempts to slow the process down in the critical battleground state.