Electoral College Coverage

Editorial: Presidential candidate with most votes should win. N.C. should join the pact

Monday, March 22, 2021 -- A national election system where the candidate who gets the most votes wins will give North Carolina a STRONGER voice in the selection of the president. Candidates will need to pay more heed to all the state's voters and campaign more vigorously to win support. Writing off North Carolina because of current electoral college calculations, won't be an option.

ELAINE MARSHALL: From dust of insurrection, Constitution still stands

Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021 -- What we witnessed last week around constitutionally required Electoral College activities in Washington was not peaceful. There was death, destruction, fighting, and fear. As a public servant charged with hosting North Carolina's Electoral College in Raleigh just three weeks ago, the rhetoric and threats following this election forced us to fear and prepare for just such an insurrection as we witnessed in our nation's Capital. My reactions on seeing our worst fears become reality ran the gamut---grief, anxiety, anger, sadness, and shock.

Did Trump consult a former NC chief justice ahead of Capitol attack?

The New York Times reported Sunday that the president pointed to former Justice Mark Martin's analysis in arguing the vice president could undo an election.

Travis Fain, WRAL statehouse reporter

Fact checking misinformation during a day of chaos at the US Capitol

Here's a look at our fact-checks of the day's session, and the chaos that interrupted it.

PolitiFact staff

After US Capitol stormed, 7 of 10 NC Republicans object to election results

The vote on Pennsylvania's results draws the most criticism. Democratic Congressman David Price blasts his Republican colleagues as "a stain on our democracy."

Travis Fain, WRAL statehouse reporter

NBC Special Report: Congress resumes work after riots at US Capitol

As Congress met in a joint session to certify the results of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory, supporters of President Trump rushed the building, prompting a lockdown, evacuation and halting the process.

Fact check: Republican right about role of Congress in Electoral College count

Though a dozen U.S. senators have pledged to object to the electoral results and seek an audit of the returns, another Wisconsin congressman says that is beyond lawmakers' power.

Eric Litke, PolitiFact reporter

Editorial: We are a nation of laws, not subjects of Trump

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021 -- In America, loyalty to a political party is NOT fealty to a personality (Donald Trump). We declared independence from, and fought a revolution, to get out from under royally divine rule and all that oppression 245 years ago. North Carolina's elected representatives - and the rest of those assembled -- need to affirm the election results. They should raise their voices, publicly offer sincere and heartfelt thanks to the thousands of election workers and volunteers who made sure that more qualified voters than ever, amid the most challenging circumstances imaginable, were able to cast ballots and have them properly counted.

5 NC congressmen refusing to acknowledge Biden's Electoral College victory

At least five Republican North Carolina congressmen will refuse to go along with the U.S. House on Wednesday in certifying the Electoral College results that have Democrat Joe Biden winning the presidency.

Laura Leslie, WRAL Capitol Bureau chief

Burr only NC Republican planning to uphold presidential election results

At least four Republican North Carolina congressmen will refuse to go along with the U.S. House on Wednesday in certifying the Electoral College results that have Democrat Joe Biden winning the presidency.

Some Republicans plan to challenge Biden's Electoral College victory. Here's what happened when Democrats challenged Bush

When Congress met to tally the results of the 2004 presidential election, then-Sen. Barbara Boxer stood alone on the Senate floor to object to President George W. Bush's reelection victory in Ohio over Democrat John Kerry, forcing the House and Senate to vote for only the second time in a century on whether to reject a state's Electoral College votes.

By Jeremy Herb, CNN

Biden discusses Electoral College results

President-elect Joe Biden addresses the nation after securing more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to be declared the next president.

Electoral College meeting in NC uneventful

Presidential electors coast to coast cast the votes Monday that will choose Joe Biden as the nation's next president, a formality that has taken on added importance this year because of President Donald Trump's refusal to concede he lost his race for re-election.

Electors meet in NC, across US to formally choose Biden as next president

Presidential electors coast to coast are casting the votes that chose Joe Biden as the nation's next president, a formality that has taken on added importance this year because of President Donald Trump's refusal to concede he lost his race for reelection.

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

NC's 15 electors make Trump's win in state's presidential contest official

Members of the Electoral College make it official that President Donald Trump won the state's presidential contest in 2020.

Editorial: Entertaining Trump's phony claims breeds unwarranted distrust in elections

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020 -- The failure to acknowledge the obvious - that Joseph Biden did get the most votes and did capture the most electoral college votes to become the next president - isn't some passive partisan act. Why do some elected representatives tolerate and even encourage Donald Trump's outrageous and false claims in his desire to keep an office he didn't win? Why aren't they speaking up for the integrity of the ballots cast by voters who put them in office? These elected representatives breed unwarranted distrust in our electoral system.

Why the Electoral College?

The Electoral College goes back to the constitutional convention of 1787, when the nation's founders couldn't agree on how to elect the president. Assigning the job to appointed electors from each state was the compromise.

NC lawmakers have power to choose winner in contested presidential race

North Carolina is no stranger to election controversy. In recent elections,we've seen controversy with absentee ballots and problems at polling sites. This year, there have already legal challenges over deadlines for mail-in ballots.

Cullen Browder, WRAL anchor/reporter

Senator Cory Booker visits Durham early voting site to campaign for Biden

U.S. Sen. of New Jersey Cory Booker is campaigning in Fayetteville and Raleigh on Saturday afternoon to rally voters to the polls.

Maggie Brown, WRAL multiplatform producer

How Trump could win again, even if he loses

Two words: Electoral College.

Electoral College members cannot go rogue

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a question that's been left unanswered since the drafting of the Constitution - whether members of the Electoral College can be required to cast their ballots for the presidential candidate who wins their state's popular vote.

NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll: 53% of Americans want popular vote not Electoral College

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that 53 percent of Americans support a move to a popular vote, while 43 percent believe the country should continue to elect its presidents using the Electoral College.

Carrie Dann, NBC News