Saturday, November 7, was headlined by television chyrons flashing 'President-elect Biden' with a check mark against his name. But the long, hard work of vote counting is still on. News networks call the race in America because there isn't a national election body which does this. This feature of US presidential elections is both ritual and necessity.

 

US elections are run at the state level and there's a long process ahead before the result is officially certified and a series of deadlines exist by which time the paperwork must be done.

 

First up is December 8 by which time any unresolved issues at the state level over vote counts and legal challenges must be resolved.

 

Next, the 538 member electoral college puts its official stamp on these results and gets them over to the US Congress.

 

On January 6, 2021, the US Congress holds a joint session where the current Vice President Mike Pence will formally announce the result of the presidential election.

 

This year, there is plenty of action on the legal side. Biden campaign attorney Bob Bauer has said the Trump campaign's lawsuits "have no merit" and meant to "spread a false narrative" about the electoral process. Trump, however, continues to insist that he has won the election and that "our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court."

 

Inauguration day will be Wednesday January 20, 2021, when the president-elect is sworn in.

 

Trump continues to insist that he has "won" the election.