thank you again to all of the three electors for your work here today. our job is done! thank you for all those who are listening, for joining us here today at delaware state university. may god bless this great state, and the united states of america. [laughter] [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy, visit ncicap.org] >> delaware adding three votes to joe biden's tally in the electoral college of votes. we go live to harrisburg, pennsylvania, joe biden's home state. 20 electors casting their votes. the process got underway a few moments ago. let's go live to harrisburg on c-span. >> on us as we convene this meeting of the college of electors of the commonwealth of pennsylvania grants, that we may be exemplars to those who reside in our commonwealth as we hope

to foster a sense of communal respect in our quest to repair a world that has been fractured during the past year. guide us in our pursuit of justice and be with us as we work together, people of differing states and colors of skin, as well as those whose opinions may differ from our own, to work to heal any divisive nest in our great country -- any divisiveness in our great country. let us say amen. rabbi.k you, welcome. electors,istinguished and honored guests. as secretary of the commonwealth and temporary presiding officer of pennsylvania's 59th electoral college, i will come you to the

historic forum auditorium. the forum was built nearly a century ago in the style of a greek amphitheater, where democracy conducted its business. i am honored to convene the electoral college in such a beautiful and apt setting to conduct one of the most important items of business in our modern democracy, selection of the president and vice president of the united states based on the results of the november 3 general election. pennsylvania is the birthplace of the united states constitution, and the electoral college, where the framers of the constitution created the electoral college is a compromise. a compromise between those who advocated for direct election of the president by the people, and those who advocated for congress to appoint the president.

as a compromise, the decision was made that the people of the united states vote for electors, who in turn vote for president and vice president. on the last day of the constitutional convention in philadelphia benjamin franklin,, one of eight pennsylvania delegates, noted that the framers had overcome prejudices, passions, local interests, and errors of opinion to produce a political system approaching so near the perfection as it does. in 1829, another framer of the constitution, "the happyon, wrote, union of these states is a wonder, their constitution a miracle, their example, the hope of liberty throughout the world." our constitution has proven to be remarkably durable and resilient, and indeed the hope

of liberty throughout the world. this year we celebrated a .entury of women's suffrage but 2020 presidential election occurred exactly 100 years and one day after american women voted for the first time in the election of 1920. our suffragist fore mothers who persevered through resistance, in the giants of the civil rights movement who fought for decades longer to ensure people of color could exercise these same fundamental rights would have been fiercely proud of the success of our democracy here in pennsylvania. millionr, more than 9 is opinions are registered to vote, a record high -- 9 million pennsylvanians were registered to vote, a record high. this. right being in the middle of a

pandemic, more pennsylvanians than ever before, in fact, hundreds of thousands pennsylvanians participated in the november third election and heard their voices -- had their voices heard. today you will follow the tradition of the first electoral college that convened 231 years ago in pennsylvania and cast your votes based on the outcome of that election, to carry out the will of the voters of the commonwealth of pennsylvania. as president george herbert walker bush eloquently said after the 1992 election, the people have spoken and we respect the majesty of the democratic system. your participation today in this electoral college proves once again the durability of our constitution, and the majesty of our democracy. in this historic moment, our democracy rests here with you,

pennsylvania's electors, as you perform your prescribed constitutional duties. thank you. on behalf of all of the commonwealth voters, for your service. now proceed with the appointment of temporary officers. thepurpose of carrying on business of this meeting, i will appoint without objection the honorable jonathan marks, deputy secretary of elections and commissions as temporary honorable and the cary stevens, executive deputy secretary and sergeant at arms. please be seated. the chair now recognizes the honorable jessica myers, policy director for the secretary of

the commonwealth of pennsylvania. >> madam secretary, i have the honor to present communications in writing from his excellency the governor of the commonwealth . >> thank you, director myers. i will read the communications. pursuant to the laws of the wolf, states, i, tom governor of the commonwealth of pennsylvania do hereby certify that in accordance with the provisions of the pennsylvania election code, upon receiving the return of the electors of the president and vice president of the united states for the election held on november 3 a.d.

2020, as laid before me by the secretary of the commonwealth, i have ascertained that the following electors for joseph r. biden for president, and kamala d. harris for vice president of the united states, need a bass,, val arkoosh, cindy rick bloomingdale, ryan boyer, page cap archive nettie -- paige gebhardt cognetti, kathy dahlkemper, janet diaz, charles hadley, jordan harris, malcolm kenyatta, gerald lawrence, and levine,ne -- clifford nancy mills, marian moskowitz, josh shapiro, sharif street, and connie williams, who have

votesed 3,458,229 constituting the greatest number of votes of the persons voted for. dulyfore are the persons elected and appointed electors of the president and vice president of the united states, to meet at the seat of government of this commonwealth being in the city of harrisburg on the first monday after the second wednesday in december, being the 14th day of december a.d. 2020. agreeably to the laws of this commonwealth and of the united states for the respect of terms described by the cost edition of the united states to begin on the 20th day of january, a.d. 2021 and to perform such other under the constitution and the laws of the united

states. signed by gov. tom wolf. -- signed by governor tom wolf. the certificate of us are tame it will be printed in full in the journal of the proceedings of the electoral college. secretary marks will now call the role of electors -- the roll of electors. please rise in your place and answer present and remain standing. >> the honorable nina ahmad. the honorable val arkoosh. >> present. >> the honorable cindy bass. >> present. >> the honorable rick

bloomingdale. >> present. >> the honorable ryan boyer. >> present. >> the honorable paige gebhardt cognetti. >> present. >> the honorable daisy cruz. >> present. >> the honorable kathy dahlkemper. >> present. >> the honorable janet diaz. >> present. >> the honorable charles hadley. >> present. harris.onorable jordan >> present. >> the honorable malcolm kenyatta. >> present. >> the honorable gerald lawrence. >> present. >> the honorable clifford live levine.

>> present. >> the honorable virginia mcgregor. >> present. mills.honorable nancy >> present. >> the honorable marian moskowitz. >> present. >> the honorable josh shapiro. >> present. >> the honorable sharif street. >> present. >> the honorable connie williams. >> present. >> thank you, secretary marks. 20 electors having answered to their names, we shall proceed with the business of the 59th pennsylvania electoral college. we are pleased to have one of pennsylvania's distinguished jurors, to administer the oath of office at this time, the

honorable max bayer, justice of the supreme court of pennsylvania. the electors will remain standing please during the administration of the oath of office. each elector has a bible or holy book with them today. the oath will now be administered. justice bayer. >> i appreciate that it is not an appropriate time to make a .peech notwithstanding, i see so many old friends and acquaintances who, because of my position and because of the covid, i no longer have the opportunity to see, so my sincere greetings and the greetings of my courts to you.f if you will place your left hand from the bible or your holy book and raise your right hand for

me. after i provide the oath, please say, i do. this is solemn and important and we need to do it right. do you and each of you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support, obey and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the commonwealth of pennsylvania and you will discharge the duties of your office with fidelity. >> i do. >> congratulations to you all. [applause] >> thank you, justice bayer. please be seated. the next order of business is the election of the president of the electoral college. the chair recognizes the honorable josh shapiro of montgomery county for the purpose of offering a resolution.

>> madam secretary, resolution 1 results that the honorable nancy mills of allegheny county be chosen president of this electoral college. >> thank you, mr. shapiro. are there any other nominations? hearing none, nominations are closed. those in favor of the resolution will give there a sent by saying i -- their assent by saying aye. any opposed? the resolution is a doll said. best is adopted. [bangs gavel] the honorable nancy mills of allegheny county is the ofanimous choice president for the electoral college. please escort the president of the podium. best to the podium.

the chair has the honor to present to you your president, the honorable nancy mills of allegheny county. [applause] >> thank you. good afternoon, guests and fellow electors. this is a great day for democracy, a great day for liberty and a great day for pennsylvania. we are gathered here to participate in a historical event like no other in the history of our commonwealth or our nation. as we cast our votes today, let us celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. as a woman, i could imagine a more historical moment for me, as well as all the women who have come before me. i am honored to be the first woman to preside over the

electoral college in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. [applause] thank you. it is often mysterious as we share these experiences, but for me, the mystery is somewhat overwhelming. the year that women got the right to vote, my mother, nancy springer patton, established the democratic party in our little township. she was 16 years old. five years from being able to vote herself. she had a vision for democrats, division for women, -- a vision for women, and the democratic process. i am honored to stand here before you following in her footsteps to cast a vote for democracy and uphold the constitution of the united states of america. another interesting crossroads for me is the election of the

first woman vice president of the united states,, the harris -- kamala harris. to me, this is the second part of my journey. as i look to senator harris, the first woman of color and an i am american, once again honored to stand before you to cast a vote for a woman and, in particular, an asian woman as my 4 granddaughters are asian americans. for me, the liberty bell is ringing loud and clear. 105 years ago, pennsylvania and women who were carrying the torch for equality created a mock liberty bell, just like the one in independence hall. they strapped down the klapper and carried it to all corners of pennsylvania and said, we will not bring it until women get the right to vote -- we will not ring it until women get the right to vote.

the bell is ringing in my ears today. let us share. this moment together and honor all those brave new poll who came before us. let us bring the liberty bell loud and clear so that it can be heard all over the world, and let everyone know that pennsylvania is the state that gave the united states its liberty, its justice, and its honorable standing in the world. we are the state that put joseph r biden and kamala harris over the 270 electoral college threshold. [applause] we are the state that returned the dignity and honor to the united states of america. thank you. [applause]

excuse me one moment. we will now proceed to the election of the vice president of the electoral college. the chair recognizes the honorable cindy bass of philadelphia county for the purpose of offering a resolution. >> good afternoon, and thank you, madam president. we resolved that the honorable sharif street of philadelphia county be chosen vice president of this electoral college. thank you, miss bass. are there any nominations? if not, nominations are closed. those in favor of the nomination ent byive their banass saying aye. the resolution is unanimously adopt did.

the chair requests the sergeant rms to escort the vice president of the podium. vice president? [applause] >> the chair has the honor to present to you your vice president, the honorable sharif street of philadelphia county. [applause] >> good afternoon. .t is an honor to be here rarely do i read anything, but, on this occasion, i am touched by the words of martin luther king jr., in the "i have a dream speech.

the magnificent vote of the constitution of the declaration of independence. it will be a promissory note to which every person will become an heir. this vote was a promise that all men, black men as well as wightman, and i would add women, lgbtq+immigrants, the bemunity and others, would guaranteedequal and unalienable rights. he noted that it was obvious at that time in so citizens in the fulfilled. was not he said he believed -- he refused to believe that the ark bankrupt best

that the bank of justice was bankrupt, and that there were insufficient funds, so he said we have come to cash a check that will give us freedom, security and justice. i submit to you today that as we move forward with the election of our next vice president, this country most forward in fulfilling the principles upon which it was founded. principles that were always --. principles that we always are moving forward. in the eyes of so many young women they are the greater promise of america. and in the hearts of so many older women, the sense of fulfillment that did not used to happen. and in the eyes of so many black children and asian children, this country has become just a little bit more fair.

so today, i am pleased to preside over, at the appropriate time, the election of the vice president of the united states, and pleased to be refused today. -- pleased to be with you today. [applause] >> thank you, vice president street for your remarks. the chair recognizes the honorable daisy cruz of philadelphia county for the purpose of offering a resolution. >> thank you, madam president. resolve that the honorable rick bloomingdale of dauphin county be appointed secretary of the electoral college.

>> thank you, ms. cruz. those in favor of the resolution give their vote by saying aye. >> aye. >> that ayes have it. the resolution is unanimously adopted. the chair recognizes the honorable charles hadley of philadelphia county for the purpose of offering a resolution. >> thank you, madam president. resolved that the honorable kathy dahlkemper of erie county pro -- -of this electoral college. >> thank you. those in favor of the resolution, please give your vote by saying aye. >> aye.

a post? the -- opposed? the ayes have it. the resolution is unanimously adopted. of ascertainment of the chair requests the sergeant at arms to escort them to their chairs. [applause] the chair and extend to the college for the able manner in which they have resided during these proceedings. without objection, the college of electors will adopt forms of proceedings necessary to carry thethe essential cast of electoral college of the commonwealth of pennsylvania. hearing no objections, they are adopted. we are now ready to proceed with the balloting for president and vice president of the united states.

the chair recognizes the honorable malcolm kenyatta of philadelphia county for the purpose of offering a resolution. >> thank you, madam president. resolution for the president of the united states, be resolved that the electors of the commonwealth of pennsylvania here assembled in the forum auditorium at the state capitol in the city of harrisburg, pennsylvania, in accordance with the constitution and the laws of the united states in the commonwealth of pennsylvania do now proceed to the ballot for president of the united states. >> thank you, mr. ken yatta. those in favor say aye. opposed. the ayes have it. the resolution is unanimously adopted. the chair appoints without objection the following three individuals to count as tellers for the electoral college.

the honorable richard gerald from allegheny county as head teller. the honorable jason henry from allegheny county, and the honorable mary esthervan shc ullers. sergeant requests the at arms to request the tellers to the stage. [applause] [applause] >> ok. everybody in place? perceive to the election of the president -- proceed to the election of the president's of the united states. each electorate will write on his or her ballot the name of

or she votes for for president of the united states. the chair requests the vice president to -- theeed for the election of president of the united states. >> the chair recognizes the for thee james mcgregor

purpose of offering this position. >> thank you, mr. vice president. it is resolved that the electorate of the commonwealth of pennsylvania, here assembled in the city of harrisburg, pennsylvania, in accordance with the provisions of the and the laws of the toted states do now proceed ballot for vice president of the united states. resolution give their assent by saying aye. it is unanimously adopted. intellect or will write the name of the person for whom he or she votes for vice president of the united states.

ballots are being distributed. >> thank you, for conducting the election for vice president of the united states. as roll call called, each elector well come forward and deposit his ballot in the official ballot box for president and vice president of the united states. the secretary will call the roll.

>> good afternoon. the honorable nina ahmad. arkoosh.able val bass.norable cindy the honorable ryan boyer.

the honorable paige gebhardt cognetti. just a little historical note. folks are putting their ballot box duster the ballots in a ballot box designed by benjamin franklin. the honorable daisy cruz. dahlkemper.e kathy honorable janet diaz. the honorable charles hadley.

the honorable jordan harris. the honorable malcolm kenyatta. the honorable gerald lawrence. the honorable clifford levine.

the honorable virginia mcgregor. the honorable nancy mills. the honorable marian moskovitz skowitz. the honorable josh shapiro.

the honorable sharif street. honorable connie williams. and myself, the honorable rick bloomingdale.

direct's the tellers to count the ballots. once the count is complete, they will advise the college of the result. at this time i would like to thank our alternate electors for being here today in case of being called into service -- [reading names] [applause]

recognizes the head teller, the honorable richard fitzgerald from allegheny county. thank you, madam president. it is my pleasure to announce the tellers agreed. the electors of the commonwealth 20pennsylvania have cast

the honorable joseph r. biden for president of the united states in 20 votes for the honorable kamala d. harris for vice president of the united states. [applause] >> i hope you can see me smiling behind this mask. would like the secretary to record that in this opening meeting of the electoral college of pennsylvania, the honorable richard fitzgerald, that the by the teller vote for president of the united states was 20 votes for joseph the vote for vice president of the united states .as 20 votes were kamala d

harris. the chair also thanks them for the efficient performance of their duty. law, itdance with the our responsibility to certify the results. the chair recognizes the yer of delawarebo county for the purpose of offering the resolution. >> thank you, madam president. it is resolve the certificate to vote for the president and vice president of the united states has been certified by the electors. >> those in favor of the resolution will signify by saying aye. the resolution is unanimously adopted. there are six certificates to be certifying the votes cast

by them for president and vice president of the united states. the secretary will call the roll electorates will come forward and sign in the order that your name is called. secretary bloomingdale? secretary bloomingdale: thank you, madam chair. the honorable nina ahmad. val arkoosh. the honorable cindy bass. these certificates and to sign -- to sign.

you have to bear with us. there are a lot of documents to sign up here. boyer.orable ryan

the honorable paige gebhardt cognetti. the honorable daisy cruisz.

honorable kathy dahlkemper.

the honorable janet diaz.

the honorable charles hadley. the honorable jordan harris.

the honorable malcolm kenyatta. the honorable gerald lawrence.

the honorable cliff levine. the honorable virginia mcgregor.

you know, as we practice social distancing, i probably should have brought a little song to seeing or history about the

electoral college. , when i reflect and watch as people come and think days of whenarly it was only men who were electors, when you look at the diversity of electors here in 2020, truly it's astounding not only how far we have to come, -- no -- astounding not only how far we have come, but how far we have to go. and the honorable mayor marian oskowitz. -- m

the honorable josh schapiro -- shapiro.piro -- josh the honorable sharif street.

the honorable connie williams.

and myself, the honorable rick bloomingdale.

[applause] >> the signed documents must now be directed to the appropriate authorities. the chair recognizes the honorable marion moscowitz for the purposes of honoring -- proposing a resolution.

>> thank you, madam president. resolve that the president appoint one elector to take charge and ensure that one package of all legally required documents is delivered to the president of the senate of the united states in washington, d.c. >> thank you, miss moskowitz. those in favor of the resolution will give their except -- ascent by saying aye. adopted.nimously the chair appoints the honorable netti ofbhart cog lackawanna county to deliver the package. statesith the other 49

in the district of columbia, friday, january 6, 20 21, in a joint session of the united states senate and united states house of representatives for the purpose of determining the foronal electoral vote president and vice president of the united states. everything is distributed? ok. in addition, it must be distributed for the purpose of maintaining the public record and the chair recognizes the honorable harold lawrence of delaware county for the purpose of offering a resolution. thank you, madam president. i offer a resolution in the distribution of remaining documents. resolved that the president send one elector to take charge and make sure that the packages of documents are delivered to the secretary of the commonwealth of pennsylvania, one of which shall be held subject to the president

of the united states, the other to be preserved by the secretary for one year and shall be part of the public records of her office. that all legally required documents are delivered to the archivist of the united states and washington, d.c., and to the honorable john jones, chief judge of the united states district court for the district of pennsylvania. bso resolved that a copy of the proceedings of this college be filed with the secretary of the commonwealth. >> thank you, mr. lawrence. those in favorable give their assent by saying aye. theayes have it in resolution is unanimously adopted. the chair appoints the honorable janet diaz of lancaster county to deliver the required documents in accordance with the resolution and the chair requests that the electors appointed with the responsibility to seal and deliver all the legally required

documents meet here in the forum with the secretary of the commonwealth boss designee for further instructions as to their duties immediately following adjournment. recognizes the val arkoosh. >> thank you. resolved that the president appoint to electors at the college of electors. >> thank you. those in favor of the resolution will give their assent by saying aye. it.ayes have the chair appoints the honorable catherineand [indiscernible] conniechair recognizes williams of montgomery county for the purposes of honoring --

offering a resolution. >> resolved that the secretary of the commonwealth be directed to have published in pamphlet form copies of the proceedings of the 59th college of electors of the commonwealth of pennsylvania to be delivered and distributed by the secretary of the commonwealth. miss williams. those in favor of the resolution will give their assent by voting aye. the ayes have it in the resolution is unanimously adopted. the chair recognizes the honorable clifford levine of allegheny county for the purposes of resolution. president for this incredible effort. i know how hard he worked to make this an outstanding event, so thank you. [applause] i also want to thank everyone of the electors for their

incredible effort to get us here today and with that, resolved that the appreciation of the electors be extended to the secretary of the commonwealth, the president, and other officers of electors for the efficient and satisfactory performance of the duties of their appointment. thank you. >> thank you, mr. levine. those in favor of the resolution will give their assent by saying aye. the ayes have it in the resolution is adopted. we have come to the end of these official proceedings. does the sec. have any announcements? >> madam president, there are no announcements. >> thank you. the chair recognizes the honorable jordan harris of philadelphia county for the purposes of offering a resolution. >> thank you, madam president. resolved that the college of electors of pennsylvania, having

met in the forum building at the state capital in the city of harrisburg, pennsylvania, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and the laws of the united states and this commonwealth, and having completed the business for which they were elected, do stand adjourned. >> thank you, mr. harris. those in favor of the resolution will give their assent by saying aye. the resolutiont, is unanimously adopted in the chair declares the 59th session of the electoral of pennsylvania adjourned. [applause] >> thank you, madam president. thank you all. i want to just close by first

thanking the department of state staff all around. these folks just did amazing work all year round. thank you, thank you, thank you. and thank you for today as well. thank you to all of you, the electors. you, today, carried out the will of the voters of the commonwealth of pennsylvania. [applause] and accentuated the majesty of our democracy in the beautiful words of president george h w bush. thank you again. we will gradually, well, we'll just walk carefully up the stairs, down the stage, making sure to leave some distance between you. thank you again, justice, for your presence, and thank you to rabbi kessler as well and i hope that you all have a wonderful afternoon. >> thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute,

which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] >> live coverage throughout the day of the electoral college votes and 50 states and in the district of columbia. we are taking you to select states. a reminder, we have live coverage of more states on c-span.org due to several counts happening at the same time. live on c-span at 2 p.m. eastern we will go to lansing, michigan, where 16 electors will cast their votes. this afternoon at 3:00, texas, we will be in austin for the count of 30 eight electors. tonight president-elect joe biden is expected to give a primetime address on the electoral college results in following his comments, the author of "after the people to talkill join us about the electoral college process and take your reaction. that's live starting at 8 p.m. eastern. you can follow that here on c-span, c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. one of several states that has

just cast their votes among the 50 states and d.c., of course, with joe biden now leading 125 electoral votes to president trump's 56 votes. we take you to iowa, next. six votes cast for donald trump. >> [inaudible] me to be herefor this morning and reside over the ceremony. --h preside over the serum preside over the ceremony. with that, i turn it over to the secretary. >> well, welcome. as you just heard, record numbers, as the governor mentioned, voted in the general election.