Actions

Nevada, Pennsylvania certify election results with president-elect Joe Biden as winner

Pennsylvania certifies election results with president-elect Joe Biden as winner
Posted at 8:15 AM, Nov 24, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-24 12:39:38-05

Both Nevada and Pennsylvania — two closely contested states in the presidential election — certified results Tuesday, officially declaring president-elect Joe Biden the winner in both states.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf tweeted Tuesday that the Pennsylvania State Department “certified the results of the November 3 election in Pennsylvania for president and vice president of the United States. As required by federal law, I’ve signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”

The certification confirms that the state's 20 electoral votes will flip to Biden. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in his 2016 election win.

Trump made the state a centerpiece of his unsuccessful legal attempts to invalidate the election results. His campaign and legal team filed several lawsuits alleging widespread fraud and inconsistencies, though none of those claims were ever proved in court.

Shortly thereafter, the Associated Press reported that the Nevada Supreme Court made Joe Biden’s win in the state official, approving the final canvass of the Nov. 3 election.

The unanimous action Tuesday by the seven nonpartisan justices sends to Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak results that will deliver six electoral votes from the western U.S. battleground state to Biden.

The court action drew extra scrutiny amid legal efforts by the state GOP and Trump campaign to prevent sending vote-by-mail ballots to all 1.82 million active registered voters and then to stop the counting of the 1.4 million votes that were cast.