Maryland, Virginia and D.C. electors all cast their ballots Monday for Democrat Joe Biden who won the popular vote in November.
The electors gathered in the Maryland State House to announce their vote and formalize it by signing certificates. They all wore masks and were seated further apart than in past events to formalize the state's Electoral College votes.
Gloria Lawlah, a former state senator and former secretary of the Maryland Department of Aging who served as the president of the state's electors, described the vote for Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris as “a repudiation of hate, a repudiation of divisiveness" and an important step in “building our nation back.”
In Maryland, political parties choose the 10 people who pledge their electoral votes to the parties' candidates for president and vice president who receive the most votes in the state.
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Biden won 65.4% of the vote in Maryland, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1. President Donald Trump received 32.2%.
Virginia cast its 13 electoral votes for Biden without any big drama, but there is some lingering rancor among Republicans about the election.
In spite of Biden’s clear win in the Commonwealth, some Virginia GOP leaders have attended rallies questioning the election's outcome. Some joined pro-Trump demonstrators over the weekend.
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Fairfax County’s GOP Chairman Steve Knotts says he shares their concerns about election integrity issues. But for him, the Electoral College vote brings an important shift.
"Today is the day that we elect the President of the United States," Knotts said. "The Electoral College vote is the only vote that makes him the president, so as a constitutionalist, the system is working and the Electoral College elects him as president of the United States."
Still, Knotts concedes not all his fellow Republicans will now view Biden as president-elect. He says his focus moving forward will be on shoring up election integrity.
In Washington, D.C., all three electors voted for Biden.
"It is my hope that four years from now we cast our vote as the 51st state in the nation," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
