you're looking at lives pictures from atlanta, georgia where the state electoral members are meeting. we want to welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. i am wolf blitzer in the cnn election center. this is a cnn special event, the electoral college votes. today is a first. we're bringing you inside the process as electors from every state and district of columbia formally select the winner of the 2020 election. the electoral college vote will affirm president-elect joe biden's win in the constitution aym ly mandated process. in moments, electors will cast ballots from arizona, connecticut, georgia, maryland, new york, pennsylvania, ride old, virginia, louisiana, north carolina, and ohio. georgia is a key state to watch this hour where president trump focused his efforts to try to

overturn the election. it is a countdown to 270 electoral votes. the number needed to secure the white house. the scoreboard as it stands now, 36 electors for joe biden, 56 for donald trump. we are covering it all as it happens along with john king, the rest of our political team. john, i want you to set the scene for us, what we can expect this hour. >> we can expect it is a big state, a celebration of democracy, reaffirmation of what the founders wrote in the constitution, and wolf, forgive me, proof the only fraud is from the president of the united states and his team. we know the results. it will be 306 to 32. possibly one or two go faithless, but the end result is already clear. you mention the noon hour. let's look as we go through. states go through this process in their time zones. 13 states so far, 11 states this hour, gets us to 24 by end of the hour. a big one, pennsylvania,

georgia, arizona. we will look back at those. ohio and north carolina. if you're a democrat, you're celebrating. this is proof of joe biden's victory, reaffirmation of it. he won the election on november 8th. took a few days to call it. he was going to compete in ohio. they thought they could get the rust belt. ohio is for donald trump. they thought can we get north carolina. no, they'll vote for donald trump and mike pence. here's what fascinates me about noon hour. pennsylvania, georgia, arizona. remember how hard fought the campaign was. come here, 306 to 232. they were donald trump states. if he gets those 47, he is reelected. 270 is the finish line. but those are three of the five, arizona, georgia, pennsylvania. michigan, wisconsin, those are states joe biden flipped,

they'll be blue in 2020, electoral votes will go, despite what the president said and what the lawyers tried by the end of the day, they'll go to joe biden. by end of the hour, these states here, including the 47, which again, testament to the biden campaign, to big changes and celebration, reaffirmation of democracy. >> president-elect joe biden has been president-elect for weeks now, but after today republicans and others who refuse to call him president-elect will have no excuse. >> the only excuse will be that the president will get mad at them, the current president will get mad at them. the only excuse. this is over. the president had every recourse in the state of georgia, pennsylvania, michigan, can i see. they' wisconsin. one minor victory in the state of pennsylvania. supreme court of the united states twice said go away. we see no evidence, no case, no standing, see no proof of what was at issue. what does the president have to

prove? widespread fraud, not in one or two states, he would have to flip more states. it was laid out. it is useful to show the system is strong enough to withstand unprecedented attacks from the sitting president of the united states. we're going to get to the end of the day, have math that looks like that, joe biden will officially be the president-elect. more republicans willing to say that? that's one of the big questions. no question what the outcome will be. one legitimate question is will the rest of the republicans, those that stood behind the president saying keep suing, trying, challenging, will they finally say get over it. >> want to be sure all our viewers in the united states and around the world see democracy in action on this historic day. you and i will be spending a lot of time at the magic wall. thanks very much. jake tapper is also with us. >> reporter: we're standing by for electors across the country to officially cast ballots as president trump continues to challenge the election results and democracy itself.

our correspondents are spread out across the nation. in michigan, new security protocols in place because of concerns over protests and, quote, credible threats of violence. dianne gallagher is in lansing, michigan for us. there are some protesters gathering already? >> reporter: yes. we have a small smattering of protesters who are already starting to show up at the capitol. the electors don't actually meet until 2:00 p.m. here in michigan. they're several hours early. snow flurries are starting to fall. things have been ramping up since late last night when an email went out to state, house, senate staff and members, letting them know all of the office buildings will be closed because of the, quote, credible threats of violence. the capitol building was already going to be closed to anyone not involved in the to recall college in part due to individual, in part due to planned protests. michigan is an open carry state.

we have seen how tense some protests surrounding the election have been in this state. a little bit of go, the michigan speaker of the house and speaker elect issued a statement, jake, saying they were stripping a republican representative, gary eisen, from his committee assignments the rest of the term after an interview he did with a local radio station saying he could not assure there wouldn't be violence today at protests he was helping coordinate. he wouldn't give any details on the protests today aside from saying, quote, it is going to be violent, it is going to be protests. when asked by the wphm radio host if he could assure everybody would be safe, it would be okay, representative eisen said no. again, the speaker elect, jake, and speaker, both republicans, as is eisen, stripped of his committee memberships for the remainder of the term which is about two weeks.

there's a lot of tension here now over something that's typically mundane, not much attention is paid to. electors have the option of being escorted by police into the capitol building just because of the concern and the threats. >> that proclivity to encourage violence is a cancer the republican party has within it that it needs to figure out what to do about. thank you so much. cnn's brian todd is in harrisburg, pennsylvania. brian, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: jake, the session just began in harrisburg. i am outside, they're inside one of the buildings on capitol grounds. secretary of state gavelled in the session, speaking giving opening remarks. they did a prayer to open the meeting as well. soon nancy patton mills, first female president of the electoral college will preside

over the vote for president. another state representative from philadelphia will preside over the vote for vice president. you heard dianne gallagher say, electors arrived by police escort, no credible threats, there have been protests here, session is under way, votes counted in a few minutes, put in a ballot box. five so-called tellers, not bank tellers, vote tellers will count votes, make sure they're certified, then they'll be mailed off, jake. they're excited. this is the state that put joe biden over the top, nancy patton mills told me this is what makes it exciting for her and other democratic electors. they're the ones that enabled joe biden to cross that threshold when cnn called the vote. they're excited to be here. >> thanks so much. go to atlanta, georgia, you find nick valencia.

>> reporter: hey, jake, process here is for them to cast votes. it is under way. we saw stacey abrams speak. all 16 democratic electors swore an oath and things have gotten under way this hour. this is an often overlooked process receiving a lot of attention, if only because president trump and his oallies attempted to stop what happens today. tried it through litigation thrown out by a judge. electors are expected to certify the win for president-elect biden and vice president-lelele harris. they're going to cast votes, one for president, one for vice president. six certificates are generated and finalized, sent to places like the secretary of state.

the who's who of the electors, credited with trying to moeb lies the voters. you have smier, he is one of 16 electors that cast his vote in 1992 for bill clinton who took the state here. he said today is an honor. i spoke to an alternate that says he is excited, says any of those speaking of fraud saying the election is stolen are clearly misguided. today he says is a historic day. he says they're going to let the republicans focus on the circus surrounding them. >> a lot of lies about what happened in georgia coming from president trump and his supporters. evan? >> reporter: the process is under way in albany. all 29 of the electors are in

the capitol building and voting, lucky for them. it is nasty for them. you talk about a state like new york, prominent democrats meeting in a room, talking about some of the most powerful people, the governor, mayors of prominent cities, members of city council of new york, union leaders, it is a very, very blue state. other electors include president and secretary clinton here during this time. it will be bad for new york and turn into a super spreader event. a lot of precautions to be sure that didn't happen. one of them, told me earlier, he was inside, got a double pcr test in both nostrils, results are negative. it was standard procedure for all of the electors. today, only 29 voting for president.

all 29 votes will go to vice president-elect kamala harris and joe biden. >> one of the things john said earlier, the reason we are doing this and watching the electors vote, we are watching our democratic institutions withstand the assault they have faced from president trump and his minions, including 126 members of the house republican party that signed on to the deranged lawsuit from texas attorney general. we are watching democracy be stronger than this assault of lies. >> how many times have we been in a state, key battleground state where they're voting as part of the electoral college. answer is never. and because we never had to.

not that it isn't important or get interesting, it is because it is a given when you have normal times. this is not a normal time, unfortunately, because as you aptally put it because of the assault on democracy that's continuing even this morning from the president of the united states publicly, never mind privately, publicly on his twitter feed and elsewhere saying senior members of state government should just ignore what they're bound to do by law. >> all of this has become ridiculous. you heard steven miller this morning in an interview basically saying they're going to come up with their own fairy tale land version of this and send it to congress which means nothing for folks watching at home. the process we are showing you today is the official constitutionally mandated process. there is no other process, no

matter what steven miller says or what president trump says. this is jake to your point a great moment for democracy and also is revealing a lot of the people who are not necessarily interested in holding on to some of these parts of our democracy that kept the united states strong for hundreds of years. i'm talking about people within the white house, those 126 members of the house that backed that lawsuit that was going absolutely nowhere. this is about revealing i think where the rubber meets the road. we are seeing the best of america in some cases and in some cases the worst of america. we were talking about the michigan representative threatening violence at protests. it is some of the worst things we've seen. >> that's the thing. it has been a challenge of this year when people like steven miller go on the president's favorite channel and say things that are just shamelessly false or talk about this fantasy land

alternate slight of electors. we don'ts know if they're lying or unable to understand the facts or if there's a psychological issue. at the end of the day, doesn't matter. the lies have an effect, this idea of leaders putting out falsehoods, demonizing people, and acts of violence happen and can't be directly tied, but there is a responsibility there. when president trump and his minions put out these lies and we see people in michigan just doing their job as patriots. if the state went the other way, they would cast the electors for donald trump, but it didn't. we see threats of violence. one level is silly, funny, to look how crazy this is. on another level, there are real fears here. it is tremendously irresponsible. >> people, we said this every day that election week and the fact we're still having to say

this is pathetic and sad but also scary that people believe the president, they believe steven miller, and they're sitting there listening to the echo chamber of those leaders and people who know better, including them, but others you talked about in congress and the media that they choose to listen to. that is the reality that becomes their world and it is dangerous. >> it is dangerous. wolf? >> this smooth transfer of power, that's what democracy is about. david chalian is with us. david, what are you looking for. what jumps out at you this hour? >> well, certainly those three critical states, georgia, arizona, saw the pennsylvania process get under way there. all in donald trump's column four years ago. they'll formally this hour be in joe biden's column, wolf. i just want to take you back, remind you that back on november

3rd, we saw 155 million people plus come out and vote in the presidential election, record turnout. it is that power of the american voters that is powering this constitutionally mandated day. this is the actual vote that matters that elects the president and vice president but it has that power of record turnout behind it. so it is sort of a day to step back and celebrate democracy, but it is also a day that has responsibility attached to it, our responsibility to show all of the viewers, to show the country and the world this process unfold while donald trump and his allies want to suggest falsely without any realm of fact that the election was rigged, stolen, some way not what it is. and now everyone can see for themselves the process that plays out. it is sort of the bookend to

record turnout we saw in november. >> and record turnout, david, resulted in joe biden in the national popular vote winning by more than 7 million votes. a decisive, impressive win, we'll see it official today in the electoral college. >> you look at the percentage points between joe biden and donald trump in that national popular vote, he won by 4.5 percentage points. you know that more than 7 million votes. again, that's not how we actually elect presidents, but it is hugely important. it is what is fueling that 306 electoral vote count that joe biden and kamala harris will have at the end of the day today, and you're going to get to see it unfold across these states, but specifically some of the states where donald trump tried to challenge, wolf, you noted and it is quite interesting, donald trump only

seems to think that an election was rigged or that it didn't go according to the law in states he lost. none of the states he won. remember, we will see states that donald trump won. we have already seen. he is going to rack up electoral votes, he is just not going to get to 270. that's what's critical to understand here. of course, donald trump has no complaints in states he won, only in states that joe biden won that determined the outcome. >> stand by for a moment. i want to go to new york state, albany, new york now. they're engaging. here is former president bill clinton and hillary clinton, two electors in new york state. new york state, of course, has 29 electoral votes, and two of

the electoral votes cast by the former president of the united states. here's the governor, governor cuomo, of new york. so the process is continuing in new york state now in albany, new york, capital of new york. saw the governor and former president bill clinton and hillary clinton, residents of new york. two of the 29 electors in new york. david, explain to viewers what we're seeing now. this is one state, a large state, new york. but will unfold in 49 other states and district of columbia. >> yeah. remember, these electors are casting a ballot both for

president and vice president so you just saw bill clinton, hillary clinton, governor cuomo cast a ballot for joe biden, one of 29 new york has to offer, another for kamala harris for the vice president-elect. they each calltally up. and what happens is that they have to sign some six certificates that get delivered to various officials, judges, secretaries of state, election officers, but most importantly one of the sets of certificates that these votes will get delivered to is vice president mike pence who as president in the senate in january will oversee the process of opening the envelopes being sent from all the state capitols, in joint session of congress will open the envelopes and tally up votes being cast today. it will be mike pence's job, not

unlike al gore's job 20 years ago, to preside over a vote count that he is going to come up on the losing end of. >> little awkward for mike pence to have to do that january 6th. john king, we are watching new york state, 29 electors there cast their votes now, making it official. all 29 will go to joe biden. give us a sense of how this is unfolding. >> from the baseless attacks on democracy, everybody watching in the united states and around the world, take a few minutes to study history, revisit, relearn things we were taught a long time ago. let's go through some of this, i'll bring this out for you. number one, the certificates being signed. why is that. remember, the electoral college goes way back. it goes back to days of the pony express. we didn't have live television or telegraph when it began. you have to have these documents

to certify the ritual, make sure enough copies are there in case something is lost. one comes to the president of the senate, vice president of the united states. yes, mike pence, maybe irony, karma, depends on political perspective will be in the chair when they're delivered to the united states senate in january. two sent to each secretary of state to have copies on file locally. you're watching the new york process unfold. they go to new york secretary of state to have the official record. electors came in, voted for president and vice president, you have the document. they're going to each of the u.s. district federal courts that's closest. they're in albany casting votes. they go to federal court in albany for redundancy in record keeping. comes to legislature in washington, to the archives,

goes to district court to have the records as well. if you want to go even further back, get rid of this, flip it up. just remember, we come through this, article 2, section 1 lays out the process. this is the original constitution. each state shall appoint in such manner the legislature may direct. yes, we have the vote, states honor the vote, the constitution says electors send word to washington who carries each state's presidential election. >> john, hold on a moment. stacey abrams is speaking in atlanta, georgia. she's one of the electors there. >> debra gonzales. steve henson. van johnson.

pedro marine. >> i cast a vote for joe biden. >> tanika miller. ben meyers. >> i cast my vote for joe biden. >> rachel pauley. [ inaudible ] >> calvin smiley. bob trammell. nikita williams. >> i cast my vote for president joe biden. >> kathy willard. i am pleased to announce joseph r. biden received 16 votes for president of the united states.

>> first time since 1992 the state of georgia cast electoral votes for democratic presidential candidate. you see stacey abrams, former gubernatorial candidate in georgia, reading roll call there. all 16 electoral votes, all 16 electoral votes in georgia going to joe biden right now. jake, this is a historic moment we saw in georgia. one of the states you well know, the president and his supporters have targeted, so many others decided to let democracy work. >> president trump is going after them because they followed

the law, allowed votes of georgians to count. we should take a moment and acknowledge what we saw with stacey abrams, former leader of the state legislature. gubernatorial candidate who lost in 2018 and there she named a bunch of victims of police violence and talked about the electors. a rare moment. georgia doesn't cast electors for democrats often. >> no. not at all. i think it is a linchpin for joe biden's electoral victory that georgia is one of the earlier states on this day to cast their votes for him because this was something that for many democrats was a bit of a dream. they always wanted to flip the state because of the demographics and fundamentals of what's going on, younger, more diverse people moving into the state. it has happened. also, this is the center of the political universe going

forward. january 5th, there will be two special elections, puncture a myth the president and supporters are trying to perpetuate, that this is fake, that election results are rigged. they were not rigged. the electors just voted, they went to joe biden. and those are the facts of the situation. i think it is important to point out that reality has perfect prevailed. >> and georgia is the place the president focused most ire. in particular georgia, because he is the guy, the republican who will go down in history as losing georgia for first time in decades. but it is ironic, not sure that's the right word, it is interesting that that is where he is focused and that's a state where the election is not over and it will determine still the balance of power in the u.s.

senate, and that's a big reason that republican leaders in the senate are not stating the obvious which is that the president-elect is joe biden because they're worried about how donald trump is going to act or react in georgia and he is doing it anyway. >> two incumbents running for re-election, david perdue and kelly loeffler, are going so far as to throw in with president trump and attack the conservative republican governor and lieutenant governor, secretary of state based on the deranged conspiracy theories. >> taking threats. >> and they are, a bunch of election officials, conservative republicans doing their job facing a bunch of threats. now we look at arizona and we go back to wolf. >> any moment, jake, more states will seal the electoral votes, joe biden or donald trump. we'll have the results from pennsylvania, new york, and arizona right after a very quick

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breaking news we are following. wisconsin supreme court issued yet another ruling in a case involving the trump campaign challenge to the presidential election.

tell us about the ruling, adrian. >> reporter: wolf, the supreme court in wisconsin ruled 4-3 decision, essentially ruling against the lawsuit from president trump, trying to overturn election results here in wisconsin. this is at least the third time one of the lawsuits in wisconsin has been thrown out. the third time in december alone. in that split decision, i want to read what the court wrote, justices said in part. we conclude the campaign is not entitled to relief it seeks, challenge to indefinitely confined voter ballots is meritless in the face. and paraphrasing here, that's what they said in part. the ruling coming about 30 minutes before the ten electors are set to meet at the state capitol in dane county.

i spoke with one of the electors this morning, he said they received some death threats, at least three out of ten. because of that security is stepped up, don't know what room they're meeting in to cast that ballot for joe biden and kamala harris. they will be escorted to the state capitol by capitol security. and the election tore i spoke with said everything that's happening, the drama of president trump trying to overturn the election and trying to change the results in only two counties, dane county where we are in madison and milwaukee counties has overshadowed the historic moment. dane and milwaukee counties are primarily democratic. here in dane county, it is college town. milwaukee is not only democratic but a large majority of black and brown people live there and

the election tore we spoke with earlier is honored to be among more than 300 casting votes for joe biden, but the significance of voting the first black female vice president has been taken away. esch he is carrying the spirit of john lewis casting that vote for joe biden. >> here in the united states of america, they're receiving death threats on this historic day. simply awful. stand by. we'll get back to you, the electoral college in pennsylvania is casting its 20 electoral votes. president-elect biden turned commonwealth of pennsylvania blue, and it was certainly key to biden's win. brian todd joining us from harrisburg. set the keen there as we are

about to get results in pennsylvania. >> reporter: well, wolf, the decisive moment is at hand. they're calling the roll now. electors are going up to the stage, depositing votes in a ballot box as they call the role. may be able to take a shot of it here. this is an exciting moment for pennsylvania. we talked to two electors there doing that now, including nancy patton mills, first female president of the electoral college in state history. they're all excited to be here because they were the ones who put joe biden over the top. the day you called the vote for the president-elect on november 7th, pennsylvania was the state that allowed him to cross the threshold, get the 270 electoral votes. they're placing votes in a ballot box now as you see. and they'll be counted by tellers to certify it is accurate, correct, and they all back stop each other.

then the electors sign six certificates. these certificates are all basically one certificate, six copies of it. they'll be then filed with the secretary of state and they'll send that to the u.s. capitol for congress to certify january 6th. you see the shot there. i believe they're about to announce the vote shortly, wolf. >> yes. pennsylvania with 20 electoral votes. the box they're putting ballots in was a box designed by ben franklin. clearly a long time ago. we're going to watch what's going on in pennsylvania, arizona, new york, wisconsin. i want to go to erin for more on what's going on. >> i love that statistic wolf shared about the box from benjamin franklin, gives you the power of what we are watching. this is part of the discussion, something we have all taken for

granted. venture to say almost no one has watched this before, here we are, rivoted by the process. kirsten powers, to be able to tie that thread back to benjamin franklin, this is the process by which we elect a president in this country. >> yes. can't stress enough how unusual it is that we are watching this, that this is normally something that does not get a lot of public attention, it is taken for granted that things will go the way the founders intended them to go. of course, donald trump has sort of turned all of that on its head by refusing to concede, continuing to claim he did not lose the election, that there was election fraud, and he managed to get a large number of republicans on board with that argument. so this is i think reassuring to people, even looking at the court cases, dozens of court cases the trump team has lost,

that the judiciary seems to have survived the stress test put on it by president trump, and now we are watching democracy playing out as it was meant to play out. >> and it is incredible because in the swing states where trump targeted so much ire where he was dealt the legal losses, right, and he also of course at the supreme court, they have shot it down with his nominees unanimously, you still have in michigan, they have to shutdown government offices today in part because of an elected gop representative there who was organizing protests who said when asked, it is going to be violent, it is going to be protests. he was removed of his responsibilities on committees by gop leadership. are we going to start to see more of that today, republicans stepping up to say this is over. >> i would hope so. i don't know how many times they

need obvious signs of admission. we had many recounts that certified results. constant lawsuits thrown out being devoid of factual basis, now we have the electoral college casting votes. if this is not a sign for the republicans to acknowledge that joe biden is the president-elect, i don't know what is. and erin, a sad day in america there are threats against electors doing a key cornerstone of our democracy. they should be going into cast ballots with a ticker tape parade, not armed security guards. that's an important aspect we need to make sure moving forward, stop the steal efforts, any effort to question the integrity of our election needs to be focused on the fact that here we see it right before our eyes. it is not pretty. it is rather boring. it is how the sausage is made, watching the paint dry. it is how our wonderful democracy works. right now there should be no

question about the integrity of the outcome of the elections. >> there isn't. you've seen in state after state, republican, democratic, georgia, the big example recently with republican leadership, and yet here we are, karen. >> but it is shameful. in georgia we have threats against the electors, but in georgia you have poll workers who are actually threatened, people who have been trying to again as we've all been saying do their civic duty, trying to volunteer to be part of the process. while i think on one hand absolutely this is a triumph of our democracy, let's be clear what donald trump is asking people to do. donald trump is asking to undermine our very democracy which is power comes from the people according to the constitution. yet he wants his folks to just throw that out and to ignore that fundamental value of our democracy.

>> all of you, stay with us. back to wolf. >> connecticut's electoral college members cast seven electoral votes. let's watch. >> madam chair. like to announce the connecticut electors cast seven ballots for joe biden jr. for president of the united states. madam chair, like to announce seven ballots have been cast for kamala harris as vice president of the united states. >> the electors have chosen. >> there you have it. connecticut, seven electoral votes for biden. standing by for new york, pennsylvania. the countdown to 270 continues right now. we are also awaiting arizona. some of the first coronavirus vaccines are also happening right now here in the united states. we update you on that. stay with us. tonight...i'll be eating crab cakes with spicy aioli.

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looking at live pictures from new york. the governor just adjourned the meeting moments ago. new york state cast its electoral college ballots. watch this. >> yes, mr. president. >> mr. president, i am proud to announce 29 votes have been cast for the honorable joseph robinette biden jr. of delaware for president of the united

states. >> the speaker making the announcement. in pennsylvania, they cast their electoral college ballots. >> thank you, madam president. it is my pleasure to announce to you and to members of the college that the tellers agree in their count. the electors of commonwealth of pennsylvania have cast 20 votes for the honorable joseph r biden for president of the united states, 20 votes for kamala d. harris for vice president of the united states. >> 20 for biden for commonwealth of pennsylvania, 29 from state of new york. jake, moving along as anticipated. no surprises yet. they're getting towards the end later today. >> that's right. there was a big effort by the trump team to overturn the results in the commonwealth of

pennsylvania, a commonwealth that trump won in 2016, was not able to win this time. i think he lost by 88 something thousand votes, big effort by the legal team there to do everything they could before election day, on election day, after election day to disenfranchise pennsylvanians, including that lawsuit that the supreme court brushed aside like a gnat, called for all of the voters for biden to be disenfranchised and those to be replaced that would vote for somebody the commonwealth of wenz pennsylvania did not pick, donald trump. >> pennsylvania like so many states, the president's attempts to disrupt and overturn what we are seeing as a free and fair election were stopped at the state level in courthouse and at

the federal level in court houses, even by people he appointed to the federal bench saying no, we're not even going to hear this or acknowledge this, and in some cases like one of the cases in pennsylvania on the federal level, the president is add mondmonished for interfe and for not really giving any evidence. >> no evidence. >> at all for the cases they brought. >> time after time they go before the court, dozens of times, and don't present evidence. they say something on twitter, then in court where they are under penalty of perjury, they have no evidence. while this is all going on, this momentous moment in presidential history, a tremendous sight as americans outside of clinical trials are receiving the coronavirus vaccine. bring in dr. sanjay gupta.

sanjay, you have been covering the pandemic since day one. when you see pictures of the first americans getting vaccinated, tell me your reaction. >> it is not a day i thought would happen this year, jake. i think we were all sort of following the development of the vaccine for some time and were optimistic and hopeful, somebody described this to me a month ago as a moon shot of infectious disease. this is a person not hyperbolic at all, it is an apt description. what you see is mundane, you see the shot going into the arm, all the science behind it is quite remarkable. jake, feels like the best of times, worst of times. best of times scientifically, worst of times, numbers continue to grow. i think we should take a moment to celebrate the scientific achievement, continue to buckle down because we know the end is

in sight. >> standing by for top of the hour. electors from six more states meet to cast their votes. we'll take a quick break. be right back. ed by making the cloud easier to manage. but we didn't stop there. we made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. no matter what it does, or how it changes. and we kept going. so you only pay for what you use. because at dell technologies, we stop...at nothing. ♪

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welcome to viewers here in the united states and around the world. wolf blitzer in the cnn election center. today we are witnessing history. electors from every state and district of columbia are meeting, casting ballots for president of the united states. today will confirm president-elect joe biden's win, while president trump has been pressuring officials all around the country to overturn the will of the american voters. in moments, six more states are convening, minnesota, new mexico, wisconsin, alabama, kansas, south dakota. 270 is the magic number to secure the presidency. joe biden right now has 108 electoral votes, donald trump has 56. john king is at the magic wall. set the scene for this hour, john. what are we looking for? >> we are looking for the math that gets joe biden closer. it will be 5:00 hour when california and 55 electoral votes are count.

that will put him officially over the top. no drama about the outcome. not trying to create drama about the outcome. let's remind people of the stakes, why all the states matter. every count matters. some states were more critical to joe biden's big victory. in the last hour, pennsylvania 20, georgia 16, finishing the process in arizona. 11 more there. these are states joe biden flipped, carried by donald trump in 2016. commonwealth of pennsylvania, state of georgia are critical not only to the victory, central to the challenges by president trump, by his allies, thrown out in courts, thrown out by election officials, thrown out looking at recounts three times in georgia. so 20 here, 16 here, just in history books, not only are pennsylvania and georgia critical to president-elect biden's win, they were critical to the bigst