HARRISBURG, Pa. — Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar presided over the 59th Pennsylvania Electoral College meeting at noon Monday, during which the commonwealth’s 20 electors unanimously voted for Joseph R. Biden for president and Kamala D. Harris for vice president of the United States, in accordance with Pennsylvania’s popular vote results in the Nov. 3 election.
Boockvar's office made the official announcement in a press release after the votes were cast.
“This year, despite being in the middle of a global pandemic, more Pennsylvanians than ever before – 6.9 million – participated in the Nov. 3 election and had their voices heard,” Boockvar told the electors. “As President George H.W. Bush eloquently said after the 1992 election, ‘The people have spoken, and we respect the majesty of our democratic system.’”
Pennsylvania is the birthplace of the U.S. Constitution and the Electoral College, which the framers created as a compromise between those who advocated for direct election of the president by the people and those who advocated for Congress to appoint the president. As a result, the people of the United States vote for “electors” who, in turn, vote for the president and vice president.
Pennsylvania’s 2020 electors are Nina Ahmad, Val Arkoosh, Cindy Bass, Rick Bloomingdale, Ryan Boyer, Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, Daisy Cruz, Kathy Dahlkemper, Janet Diaz, Charles Hadley, Jordan Harris, Malcolm Kenyatta, Gerald Lawrence, Clifford Levine, Virginia McGregor, Nancy Mills, Marian Moskowitz, Josh Shapiro, Sharif Street and Connie Williams.
Pennsylvania’s electoral votes will be delivered to the President of the U.S. Senate, where the Electoral College votes from all 50 states and the District of Columbia will be counted on Jan. 6, 2021, in a joint session of Congress to determine the national electoral vote for president and vice president of the United States.
The president-elect and vice president-elect will be sworn into office on Jan. 20, 2021.
Copies of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes also will be delivered to the Archivist of the United States in Washington, D.C., and to Chief Judge John E. Jones III of the District Court of the United States for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Boockvar's office said.
All attendees of Pennsylvania's Electoral College meeting adhered to recommended measures of the federal Centers for Disease Control and the state Department of Health, including the use of masks, social distancing, temperature checks and health screening.