Pennsylvania certifies Biden victory

Pennsylvania officials on Tuesday certified the commonwealth’s election results showing Joe Biden won the presidential election in the state over President Trump.

The Pennsylvania Department of State said that Secretary of State Kathy Bookvar (D) certified the results after receiving certifications from all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties certified on Monday.

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) tweeted that he “signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris” as required by law. The final vote total showed Biden ahead of Trump by 80,555 in the commonwealth.

The move cements Biden’s victory in the Keystone State, which now has officially awarded its 20 electoral votes to the former vice president. Biden’s projected win in Pennsylvania helped him top 270 electoral votes when the election was called for him just shy of three weeks ago.

The certification comes after officials in both Georgia and Michigan certified results showing Biden winning their respective Electoral College votes.

“I want to thank the election officials who have administered a fair and free election during an incredibly challenging time in our commonwealth and country’s history,” Wolf tweeted Tuesday morning. “Our election workers have been under constant attack and they have performed admirably and honorably.”

The development deals a further blow to Trump, who unsuccessfully sought to block the commonwealth from certifying its election results in the courts.

Over the weekend, a federal judge tossed out the Trump campaign’s lawsuit challenging voting procedures in the Keystone State, writing in a scathing opinion that the accusations were “unsupported by evidence.”

On Monday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court also rejected a request by the Trump campaign to throw out ballots in the state that contained small technical errors.

Georgia similarly certified its results showing Biden the winner last week and Michigan did so on Monday afternoon.

The transition process is also now officially underway, after the General Services Administration acknowledged Biden’s victory and said federal resources had been freed up to assist it in a letter sent to Biden on Monday. Trump tweeted that he made the call for his administration to begin the transition process, but has continued to contest the results. He tweeted late Monday that he will “never concede.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s legal efforts to challenge the results have faced increasing criticism from Republicans and a growing number of members of the GOP have recognized Biden as the president-elect.

“President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said in a statement following the court ruling over the weekend.

— Updated at 12:19 a.m.