The Daily Fuckup

By Nov. 21, 2021, the 2020 presidential count was no longer in doubt in the official record. Congress had met on Jan. 6, 2021, and completed certification of the Electoral College results at 3:44 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2021. Joe Biden finished with 306 electoral votes and Donald Trump with 232. The National Archives had also published the official 2020 Electoral College materials and explained the process used to review them.

That same public archive also showed something else: unofficial Electoral College certificates and related correspondence had been received from alternate electors in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Those submissions were documented by the Archives, but they were not accepted as official state action.

The distinction matters. Under the Electoral College process, electors are tied to state-certified results, and the Office of the Federal Register’s role is to review certificates as part of that process. It does not appoint electors, and it does not create a second set of votes. The paper trail on the Archives site therefore showed uncertified materials moving through the federal system after the election had already been decided.

What the public record did not yet settle, as of this date, was the full shape of the effort behind those filings. The Archives had the documents; later reporting and investigations would fill in more of the coordination story. But the basic fact was already on the page: the 2020 election had been certified, and unofficial elector paperwork had still been sent in from several states.