Republicans attempt to disrupt Electoral College process in states Biden won

All the states President-elect Joe Biden tightly won in the 2020 election have cast their electoral votes for him — but not without Republicans trying to disrupt the process.

Electoral College voters in every state cast their ballots on Monday to certify Biden's win, putting an end to GOP-stoked doubts about the legitimacy of the 2020 results. But in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, all of which Biden won, Republicans claiming to be electors cast their own votes for President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence anyway.

In Arizona last week, a group called "AZ Protect the Vote" decided to select its own slate of 11 voters and told the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to expect the state to vote for Trump and Pence. The group produced notarized documents supposedly certifying the vote for Trump and sent it over, even though Biden handily won the state, The Arizona Republic reports. On Monday, Arizona's 11 Democratic electors actually cast their votes, and will send them to Congress next week for an official count.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Georgia Republicans tried a similar scheme Monday, meeting at the Capitol at the same time as the state's Democratic electors to select a slate of electors to cast votes for Trump. Groups of self-appointed electors in Pennsylvania and Nevada also cast meaningless votes of their own, claiming legal challenges could still tip the vote in Trump's favor. Michigan Republicans who tried to cast votes meanwhile were blocked from entering the capitol building.

Trump and his supporters have waged several lawsuits challenging votes across the U.S. But as of Monday, all of Trump's biggest suits were finished, and he lost nearly all of them.