Dates to observe as 2025 inauguration of Us president nears
Donald Trump
Dates to observe as 2025 inauguration of Us president nears.
Donald Trump has emerged victorious in the 2024 election, securing over 270 electoral votes across seven key battleground states becoming the 47th president of the United States.
He would become just the second president to serve non-consecutive terms, with Grover Cleveland winning elections in 1884 and 1892.
When the polls are over, Trump taking the oath of office will still take several more weeks.
However, there is a detailed process in place to ensure the ballots are counted accurately and that state and federal officials properly determine who won the most electoral college votes.
Tribune Online presents 9 pivotal dates between the election day and the Presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025..
1. November 7: State certification of results begins
Once votes are counted, it is up to the state election officials to certify that the results are accurate.
There are varying timelines for states to confirm the official vote totals.
The US Election Assistance Commission states that Delaware must confirm its votes by November 7 and is in the lead. By November 23, Georgia, a crucial battleground state, must certify its results; Michigan must do so on November 25, and North Carolina and Nevada must do so on November 26. Arizona and Wisconsin have deadlines of December 1 and December 2, respectively, for certifying electoral college results. There are no set certification deadlines in Rhode Island or Pennsylvania.
In most states, it’s winner-take-all. That means the state popular vote determines whom all of a state’s electors will ultimately support. (In Nebraska and Maine, some of the electors can be split and are determined by the popular vote in each congressional district.)
2. November 11: Presidential transition briefings must begin
If there is no clear winner projected by Nov. 11, federal agencies are required to begin briefing both the Harris and Trump campaign teams separately on each agency’s most pressing work and the key roles that need to be filled.
The normal procedure of a smooth transition between presidents was impeded when then-President Trump refused to recognize Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Important federal agencies like the Pentagon, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Homeland Security were unable to provide Biden’s staff with briefings.
In 2022, Republicans and Democrats in Congress passed the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act to better prepare a new president to succeed a reluctant incumbent. Before transition briefings started, the General Services Administration used to determine which candidate had most likely won. However, in the event that neither candidate concedes within five days of election day, the campaigns will now begin their own transition plans.
3. November 26: Trump sentenced in hush money trial
Donald Trump may have to appear in a Lower Manhattan courthouse for sentencing in his New York hush money prosecution as the official mechanism solidifying the election’s outcome continues to work. Trump was convicted on 34 charges by a jury in May of fabricating financial documents to conceal payments he made to a porn star to buy her silence on the eve of the 2016 election.
Judge Juan Merchan of the New York State Supreme Court will decide Trump’s sentencing. Trump’s attorneys contended that a sentencing so near to the election could unjustly affect the outcome of the race, even though the sentencing hearing had previously been scheduled for September 18. The conviction carries a maximum 4-year prison sentence.
However, Trump can be given probation or a shorter sentence because he has never been found guilty of a crime. Nothing stops a convicted felon or someone incarcerated from holding the office of President of the United States.
Since a President has no authority over state charges, Trump would not be able to pardon his convictions from New York if he were elected President.
4. December 11: Ascertainment
Following the certification of the states’ results, the executive branch of each state—typically the governor—signs “certificates of ascertainment,” formally assigning the state’s electors to the victor. These are the documents that Congress considers to be the outcome. The governor of each state must sign the certificates by December 11.
It is anticipated that the electors listed on that document will cast the state’s votes in the electoral college. Copies will be submitted to the US Archivist and Congress, together with the signed certificates and the state’s official electoral votes.
A candidate can challenge those certificates in court, but they can only be changed after an expedited judicial review process that is part of the electoral reforms Congress passed in 2022.
5. December 17: Electors vote
In every state, the electors will meet and cast votes for President and Vice President. Each election cycle, this happens on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December. In 2024, that falls on Dec. 17.
The electors’ votes are recorded and sealed with the certificates of ascertainment signed by the governor and the whole packet is sent to Congress and the National Archives.
6. December 25: Electoral votes arrive in Washington, D.C.
Many of the procedures in place for formally establishing the results of the nation’s presidential election were designed when important documents were transmitted across the country on horseback—not by plane or email. Same goes for the deadline by which the official electoral votes must arrive in the capital from the states. They must arrive in Washington, D.C. by the fourth Wednesday in December, which this year falls on Christmas Day.
If the electoral votes haven’t arrived by Dec. 25, the president of the Senate or the Archivist can request an extra copy held by the state’s top election officer.
7. Jan. 3, 2025: House and Senate convene
Every two years, the newly elected House and Senate convene at noon on Jan. 3. If the president of the Senate still has not received a set of electoral certificates by that time, copies can be requested from the Archivist.
For the House of Representatives, its first order of business is electing the Speaker. If the Republicans hold the House, Speaker Mike Johnson will likely retain that gavel. Democrats would likely support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker, if they take control of the chamber.
8. Jan. 6, 2025: Counting the electoral votes
The sitting Vice President—as president of the Senate—has a ceremonial duty to oversee the final step of the Electoral College process at 1 pm on Jan. 6, 2025 during a joint session of the House and Senate. Whether or not she wins the election, that role will be handled by Vice President Harris, who will preside over the ceremony as electoral certificates for each state are counted and tallied and a winner is declared.
After Trump pressured Vice President Mike Pence to try to overturn his 2020 election loss on Jan. 6, 2021, Congress clarified that the vice president’s role in the process is to perform “solely ministerial duties” and has no power to reject electoral votes.
Jan 20, 2025: Inauguration Day
The President-elect will take the Oath of Office on the steps of the US Capitol on January 20, 2025.
Trump did not show up for Biden’s inauguration in 2021, when he was the outgoing president.
Regardless of the outcome, Biden plans to attend the event this time. Speakingswoman Karine Jean-Pierre stated, “This President believes in the peaceful transfer of power, and that’s what you’re going to see this President do.”
