While Donald Trump may be contesting the outcome of the US election, with the president unlikely to concede as voting continues in some states, we look at what could happen next.
Although the prospect of a second Trump administration cannot be ruled out entirely if the electoral college process pans out as normal then Joe Biden will be the next US President.
However, there could still be steps that see Donald Trump try and cling to power.
The voting process
When Americans cast their vote, they are voting for a group of party-appointed officials who have pledged to back their presidential candidate, forming the electoral college.
Each state has – roughly speaking – a number of electors comparable to their population and the figure equals the total number of congress members and senators.
There are 538 electors in total, meaning the crucial number to get a majority and enter the White House is 270.
Most states give all their electoral college votes to the candidate who won the popular vote in that state, which is why campaigns usually focus on key swing states.
Nebraska and Maine, however, break up the electoral college votes in proportion to the votes the candidate receives.
Key date for resolving disputes
The deadline for resolving disputes at state level is December 8, with all recounts and contests to be completed by this date.
On December 14, the electors meet in each state and formally cast their ballots for president and vice president.
Electors could go against the instructions of the electorate and vote for whichever presidential candidate they prefer – known as a “faithless elector”.
But they have never changed the outcome of an election and the Supreme Court has ruled that states can require electors to abide by their promises.
READ MORE: Donald Trump fires top cybersecurity official who refuted election fraud claims
Why is January 6th significant?
The House of Representatives and Senate will hold a joint session to count the electoral votes on January 6.
Congress members can object to the votes of individual electors and make the final call on the winners of any states that are unable to resolve their disputes.
If one candidate has received 270 or more electoral votes, the president of the Senate, currently Vice President Mike Pence, announces the results.
The president-elect will then be sworn into office on inauguration day, January 20.
Does it matter if Donald Trump doesn’t concede?
Yes, and no.
A concession from a president is not a legal requirement. But no presidential candidate has ever refused to concede defeat once all votes were counted and legal challenges resolved.
President Trump has vowed to take legal steps while refusing to concede to president-elect Mr Biden and January 6th could prove pivotal.
Could there be a constitutional crisis? How would Donald Trump stay in power?
The House of Representatives and Senate will hold a joint session to count the electoral college votes on January 6.
After being sworn in on the 3rd, one of the key steps of the new Congress is to tally the electoral college votes.
Congress members can object to the votes of individual electors and make the final call on the winners of any states that are unable to resolve their disputes. If enough legal challenges are not resolved then the states could be voted for by the houses.
This means that the Democrat-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate could potentially split on which votes to accept. However, this would require a number of states to be exceptionally close or legal challenges to not have been resolved.
As a result, Vice President Pence who oversees the count could have a casting vote in declaring the winner.
If no candidate reaches 270 college votes then the Supreme Court could intervene. If the court opts not to then there is no agreement over who is president and Donald Trump could claim his first term has ended and his second term has just begun.
READ MORE: What happens if Donald Trump doesn't concede the US election?
How likely is this?
Nothing can be ruled out with all indications suggesting that Donald Trump believes he won the election. Last week Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a State Department press conference last week that “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”
However, courts are rejecting his legal challenges for the most part and a number of Republicans are calling for some aspects of the handover to be carried out, such as passing on intelligence briefings to the president-elect.
Key dates
8 December
All legal challenges at a state level should be resolved
14 December
States declare their votes in the Electoral College to choose the next president.
3rd January
New Congress is sworn in
6 January
Congress counts the Electoral College votes through 'faithless electors' voters, who could ignore their state instructions (although this has never happened to change the result of an election)
20th January
Inauguration Day.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel