and why a robust covid-19 financial relief measure is needed. then the author of the washington times with the latest in the investigation of california democratic congressman eric swalwell's reported tied to an alleged chinese spy, and chinese espionage efforts in the u.s. watch c-span's washington journal, live at 7:00 eastern on tuesday morning. join the discussion with phone calls, facebook comments, text messages and tweets. six presidential electors met today in the state capital of des moines to formally cast their votes in the 2020 election. the popularump won vote in the state. me to bean honor for here today. [indiscernible] over to the

secretary. >> i want to point out [indiscernible] more than 1.7 million voted in the general election. proud that we have filled the sense of duty -- we have fulfilled our sense of duty. despite the pandemic and the , i want to thank the voters and the poll workers. 897,000 iowans voted for donald

trump for president and mike pence for vice president. the margin was 53-45%. trump carried 93% of 99 counties in iowa. technically and legally. in the u.s.outlined constitution. candidates had their own --ctors that were nominated all nine candidates had their own electors that were nominated. [indiscernible]

i pledge, if elected for the position of a lector, i agree to for president and vice president for the nominee of partyoffices, of the nominated. you need to vote for the individuals for president and vice president. they should be here in a moment. we will wrap this up and go through it shortly. before you leave i need to make sure that each of you come up certificateficial

anhere and you will sign official certificate. [indiscernible]

>> first congressional district. >> iowa county.

>> we will take the tally.

i'm sorry. thank you.

again, i just want to make sure you vote. the united states congress will meet at a later date. you will vote for the electorate's for president and vice president. >> six votes for president trump and six votes for vice president pence. >> [indiscernible]

>> sure.

>> ok. c-span for our continuing coverage of the , assition of power president-elect joe biden moves closer to the presidency. with the electoral college votes cast from states across the country, join us on january 6, live at 1:00 p.m. eastern for the joint session of congress to come the votes and declare the winner from president and vice president. finally at noon on january 20, the inauguration of the 46th president of the united states. live coverage begins at 7:00 a.m. eastern, from the state house, to congress, to the white house. watch it live on c-span, c-span.

-- c-span.org or listen using the free c-span radio app. >> c-span's washington journal, every day. we are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day, and discussing policy issues that impact you. up tuesday morning, economic policy institute senior economist talks about how the pandemic has affected america's workforce and why robust covid-19 financial relief measures are needed. and washington times national security correspondent build gertz with the latest in the investigation of california eric swalwell's ties to a chinese spy and china's espionage efforts in the u.s. watch c-span's washington journal, live at 7:00 eastern on tuesday morning. when the discussion with phone calls, facebook messages, text messages and tweets. >> you're watching c-span, your

unfiltered view of government. created by america's cable television company as a public service, and brought to you today by your television provider. coming up shortly, president-elect joe biden holds a news conference on certification of the electoral college vote your it we will hear from the national constitution center director on the electoral college. he was our guest on this morning's washington journal. host: c-span viewers are familiar with jeffrey rosen, joining us on the day that the electoral college will vote for president and vice president. before we get to the why, explain exactly what happens today. guest: today, electors will meet in their states and cast their votes for president. process wheremal

there are certifications i have to be created that are two certificates. assignment,ion of and certification of who actually won the vote. there are six copies of each, they are transmitted to the president of the senate, who is the vice president, as well as the secretary of state, the chief judge of the federal district court, and those certificates are then counted on january 6, when congress meets to actually elect the president and recognize his victory. host: a complicated system. why do we have it? guest: because the framers put it in the constitution, it was further refined by federal law. interesting an topic. i am honored to discuss it with the viewers on this important day.

begin with the national constitution centers -- go to constitution.org and click on the electoral college, which is article two, section one. we have assembled the top liberal and conservative scholars on the electoral college. nominated by the federalist society and the progressive society to wrtie 1000 -- write what they agreed the electoral college was intended to do, and about what they disagreed with. , one of who is now a representative. let's begin by talking about the basic history. scholars begin by technology and the electoral college, supporters and critics would agree that it departs from democratic norms, but then they note that the way it works

today, as you were just discussing in your interesting segment, today, 48 states appoint all of their electors on a winner take all. two states, maine and nebraska, do it by the election. there is a varying variety in each state. in the first presidential election, five state legislators in connecticut, delaware, new jersey and south carolina designated presidential electors without having any popular vote at all. the voters elected all electors in virginia, which had 10 congressional districts. they divided the commonwealth into 12 districts and conducted a popular election. there are statewide elections, elections from a single-member district, elections for multi-member districts, and so forth. even from the beginning, there of a wide variety in a way electors were chosen.

and our current system of single-member districts in every state, except for two was not present at the founding. host: is the term electoral college in the constitution? guest: let's check out the text. article two section one, each state shall appoint, in such manner, at the -- as the legislators may direct a number of electors equal to representatives to which the state may be entitled in the but, no senator or representative or person holding an office of trust or profit under the united states shall be appointing an elector. he goes on to say, the electors shall meet in their respective states, that's what's happening today, and vote by ballot for -- therens of whom one is a long passage in bold because it was amended by the 12th amendment, which was passed after the election of 1800 when thomas jefferson and his running mate got identical votes and

both claimed the office. the house of representatives chose jefferson. alexander hamilton ended up supporting jefferson rather than alan bersten at the last minute, provoking the famous dual between the two. after the 12th amendment was approved and made it impossible for a president and vice president both to tie. in other words, separate votes cast. i needed to read the whole text in order to answer your question. no, the electoral college does not appear in the constitution. host: jeffrey rosen with us until 8:45 eastern. about the a question constitution and electoral college, now is a good time to call. -- we are talking about the electoral college on the day that electors are meeting around the country, and

a reminder that you can watch many of those electors meet in state capitals right here on c-span. our coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern. first.o indiana to delaware to see their electors. pennsylvania at noon you can also watch at c-span.org . you can listen on the free c-span radio app. jeffrey rosen, has there ever been a day when the formality of the electoral college meeting has gotten as much attention as this one has in the wake of president trump continuing to dispute the election results? >> that is a great question and i would think not.