As former Vice President Joe Biden continues illegitimately declaring himself to be the winner of the 2020 presidential election, and fabricating the non-existent “Office of the President-Elect,” it is more important now than ever before to explain exactly how the American presidential election system works, and particularly the role of the Electoral College.

Each state is assigned a certain number of electoral votes based on its population. There are currently 538 total electoral votes across all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C.; thus, a candidate must receive at least the bare minimum of 270 electoral votes in order to officially win the presidency. In 48 of the 50 states, whichever candidate wins a plurality of citizens’ votes in that state will subsequently earn the entirety of that state’s electoral votes. In Maine and Nebraska, electoral votes are assigned based on congressional district. Election results are first certified by each county, and those results are then certified at the statewide level by either the state’s Governor or Secretary of State.

The individual electors themselves are chosen by the state’s legislature, who have their own various laws and methods for determining who is selected as an elector. Subsequently, the chosen electors meet in their respective state’s capital in mid-December, on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of the month, and cast their votes for America’s President. Those votes are subsequently sent to Washington D.C., where they are tabulated by a joint session of Congress in the first week of January. The joint session is presided over by the incumbent Vice President, in their capacity as President of the United States Senate.

Following this, the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect are sworn in on Inauguration Day, which is January 20th, at Noon, thus officially beginning their presidential term.

These are the guidelines for the official and formal process of selecting, electing, and inaugurating a new President and Vice President every four years, as outlined by the Constitution of the United States. The media does not decide a President, nor does a candidate immediately become President-Elect, even if they have apparently won a majority of electoral votes. They only become a President-Elect if the aforementioned joint session of Congress so declares it in early January. As such, the 2020 election process is far from over.

AMERICA First is the newest nationally-syndicated radio show in the United States, part of the Salem Radio Network. The host, Sebastian Gorka PhD., served most recently as Deputy Assistant for Strategy to the  President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, and is author of the New York Times bestselling book “Defeating Jihad.” His latest book is “The War for America’s Soul.” You can follow him on Twitter @SebGorka, on Facebook, and on Instagram @sebastian_gorka. AMERICA First is available on the iTunes podcast app, streams live at www.sebgorka.com, and is on YouTube. You can contact him here.