A reminder about the US elections
Remember to breathe. Regardless of anything else that takes place, 4 November will follow 3 November, and then the 5thm 6th, 7th, and so on. Life will continue apace.
It’s increasingly likely that we will not know who actually “won” the election for several days, if not weeks. In any event, the Electors must be certified by 8 December 2020. Six days before the electoral colleges convene to vote is the “safe harbor” deadline by which states must certify their results without risking Congress getting involved and resolving a potential dispute over which candidate won a particular state’s electoral college votes.
December 14, 2020: Electors vote
On the second Monday after the second Wednesday in December, electors convene in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to formally cast their votes for president and vice president.
They then send certificates of their vote to their state’s chief election official (in most states, this is the secretary of state), the National Archives, and the current President of the US Senate.
January 6, 2021 at 1 p.m.: Vote count is finalized at the results are certified
The sitting Vice President, acting as the Senate president, presides over a joint session of Congress to read aloud the certificates cast by the electors representing all 50 states and D.C. in alphabetical order to finalize the vote count.
If no members of Congress object to any of the certificates in writing, the Senate president officially certifies the selection of the president-elect and vice president-elect.
January 20, 2021 at noon: The president is inaugurated. As to who that President and Vice President will be, no one really knows at this point.
So breathe. And keep breathing.