In the end, democracy carried the day.
Wisconsin’s 10 voters quietly walked into a quiet state capitol on Monday and saw more police officers than protesters. While waiting to officially cast their ballots, the socially distant Democratic officials and activists took selfies in an ornate wood-paneled room. When the vote finally came, one voter added hearts to the controls on the lines for the Democratic President’s ticket in a rare expression of emotion.
“We did it,” said Governor Tony Evers, relieved after he announced the final settlement – a unanimous vote for Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Kamala Harris.
When the electoral college cast their ballots for Mr. Biden on Monday, the moment felt both extraordinary and repetitive. After all, the elected president and his team have won the election since November and have repeatedly emerged victorious in legal proceedings, hearings and recounts.
But President Trump and his allies’ extraordinary attack on the elections and their efforts to deprive millions of voters of the voting rights exposed the creaky governance of American democracy.
And on Monday the bureaucracy withdrew.
From Hillary Clinton giving a thumbs up after casting her vote as New York Electress to the shadow gatherings Republicans held in battlefield states, it was a day marked by more symbolism and emotion than surprise for some was.
Robin Smith, a Democratic activist and librarian in Lansing, Michigan, was suffocated while casting her vote for the president-elect. She wore a Biden / Harris face mask and donkey needle with red, white and blue jewels for the Democratic Party.
‘Stay there, Mom. Be in the moment,’ ‘Ms. Smith said, her daughter pressing for text. “As a black woman, it really means everything to me.”
Prior to the official votes in Maryland, Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican who early criticized Mr Trump’s efforts to cast doubt on the election results, described the event as a “civic lesson” – perhaps a nameless confrontation with the president.
“The peaceful change of power in which we are officially participating here today is a hallmark of our democracy, which has been passed on for more than 220 years,” said Hogan. “It is a reminder that despite our differences, we are united as Americans who honor the will of the people.”
As Mr Hogan noted, there was a history of American democracy – as well as its many quirks.
In Kentucky, voters promised they would not be engaged in a deadly weapon duel, part of the state’s oath added in the early 19th century because too many residents killed each other.
In Alabama, voters heard a lecture on the story of their role from an actor dressed as Uncle Sam before casting their nine votes for Mr. Trump.
And in New Hampshire, Mary Carey Foley, a retired high school teacher who first met Mr. Biden nearly four decades ago, described her political ancestry as a third-generation elector and described the voices of her mother in 1972 and grandmother in the year 1946.
Perhaps the most unusual thing was that anyone was talking about voters at all. As the country recorded 300,000 deaths from the coronavirus and eagerly watched the introduction of a vaccine, Americans were bombarded by obscure officials who cast ballots and signed them multiple times – procedures that were shown on cable news throughout the day.
Voters sought transparency through flawed internet streams, both to refute the conspiracy theories that have resonated with Trump’s supporters and to implicitly admit that some conservatives are unlikely to accept the election result. Those theories blossomed in the live chat streams that accompanied the meetings, a unique mix of champagne emojis and conspiracy theories for 2020.
In Nevada, six voters who met during a live publicly broadcast video chat held signed ballots on their screens, which were counted by Mark Wlashin, assistant secretary of state for elections. The chatter offered a glimpse into a divided nation.
“We all know Trump is having a breakdown!” wrote one user walking from Clorox Bleach followed by four laughing emoji faces.
Hillbilly shot back: “I’m a Trump supporter and not angry because Biden will never be president.”
Last week, the Supreme Court turned down the desperate efforts of Trump allies to change the election result and smashed a long-term strategy that depended on banning four states won by Mr Biden from casting their votes and convincing Republican-controlled legislators with alternative legislators Choose slate friendly voters.
Mr Trump now has few resources to change the election result, although that did little to deter some supporters from continuing to advance fantastic plans.
Much of the recent effort has centered on what some Trump allies have called the “alternate voter roll” – die-hard supporters who gathered in state capitals to vote for Mr. Trump. The self-appointed voters are not certified by state executives and, according to legal experts, have no legal position.
That didn’t stop them from playing a little live-action role-playing game of the typical everyday inner workings of democracy.
Outside the Michigan State Capitol on Monday 10 of the so-called Republican voters vowed to cast their ballots for Mr. Trump before being denied entry by state police.
Bernadette Comfort, president of the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania, described the shadow event in her state as a “procedural vote” carried out at the request of the campaign.
“This was in no way an effort to usurp or dispute the will of Pennsylvania voters,” she said.
Josh Shapiro, the Democratic attorney general and one of his 20 voters, was far less sympathetic: “A ridiculous charade,” he told CNN shortly after Mr Biden was elected.
Across the country, some of Mr. Trump’s allies seemed far more willing to accept the reality of the elections. After California officially confirmed Mr Biden’s victory, several Republican senators finally recognized the Democrat as president-elect on Monday night, a reversal of weeks of public opposition among GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Top Republican leaders in the Michigan legislature recognized the loss of Mr Trump on Monday and reiterated their refusal to give in to the president’s demands for interference in the electoral process.
“I fought hard for President Trump – nobody wanted him to win more than me,” said spokesman Lee Chatfield. “But I also love our republic. I can’t believe risking our norms, traditions and institutions to pass a resolution that will retroactively change voters for Trump. “
He added, “I’m afraid we will lose our country forever.”
After weeks of harassment and death threats against election officials, only a handful of Trump supporters gathered outside the state capital’s buildings on Monday – a sign of waning hope, even among the more ardent supporters of the president, that he could prevail.
In Madison, a small group marched slowly around the Capitol on a cold afternoon, wearing rosaries, statutes of the Blessed Virgin, and many complaints about the elections.
“We don’t protest, we pray,” said Geralyn Kettermann, 65, of Fulton Township, Wisconsin, who saw a sign that read “Jail Wisconsin Election Commission! All Trump votes stolen!”
The Democrats also saw an opportunity to fuel their political struggles. Nikema Williams, the leader of the Democratic Party in Georgia, opened the proceedings with a small victory round. As she spoke, long voting lines grew across the state, with the beginning of personal voting in two crucial runoff elections that will determine control of the Senate.
“Georgian voters are very powerful and we will soon prove it again,” said Ms. Williams. “Georgians have known for years, and now the nation knows Georgia is a blue state.”
Mrs. Williams looked forward to the next month. And others also looked ahead – with a less certain view that this chapter is really coming to an end.
Since November 7, when Mr Biden won the presidency and the Trump campaign hastened its attacks on the process, Americans had viewed the vote in the electoral college as the finish line.
Now that the country was crossing it, not everyone was so confident.
“Towards the end of this event, it is evident that this is neither the end of the discussion about the 2020 election nor the way we conduct future elections,” said Katie Hobbs, Arizona Democratic Secretary of State. “This is probably the start of a long debate.”
The coverage was contributed by Kathleen Gray of Lansing, Michigan. Kay Nolan of Madison, Wisconsin; Reid J. Epstein from Washington; and Isabella Grullón Paz from New York.
