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GOP Official Says Michigan Has Duty to Certify: Election Update

Biden Talks With New Zealand Prime Minister: Election Update

A key Republican official says Michigan has a duty to certify the election. Some top names on Wall Street call for the transition to begin. And Pennsylvania counties face a deadline to certify results Monday.

There are 15 days until the deadline for states to certify their results, 21 days until the Electoral College meets, 44 days until Congress certifies the results and 58 days until inauguration.

Other Developments:

Michigan Board Has Duty to Certify Results, Republican Says

A key Republican official indicated Monday that the Michigan Board of State Canvassers might dash President Donald Trump’s hopes of delaying the certification of the election in the state.

Aaron Van Langevelde, one of two Republicans on the panel, said the board must certify the November election results based on the law.

“The board’s duty is very clear,” said Van Langevelde as a meeting of the board got started in Lansing on Monday afternoon.

“We have a duty to certify this election based on the returns. That is very clear and we are limited to these returns,” he said, indicating he may vote to certify the outcome in the state, where President-elect Joe Biden won by a 150,000 vote margin.

The board consists of two Democrats and two Republicans. A deadlock could throw the outcome of the vote in Michigan into a protracted legal battle. Langevelde asked guest speaker Chris Thomas, a fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and the state’s former director of elections, if the board had the power to audit votes or investigate an election for fraud. Thomas told him that the board does not.

The board was hearing public comments before calling the certification vote. It was unclear how long the meeting would last. -- David Welch

Business Leaders Call for Transition to Start (12:29 p.m.)

More than 100 chief executives are calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to begin the transition process.

In an open letter, the executives said that withholding financial resources and access to top officials was hurting national security as well as “the public and economic health” of the country.

“Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished,” the letter says.

Signatories include Blackstone Group Inc. President Jonathan Gray, Accenture PLC Chief Executive Officer Julie Spellman Sweet and KKR & Co. co-Chief Executive Henry Roberts Kravis, the New York Times reported.

The letter was spurred by New York Attorney General Letitia James after a call among Democratic state attorneys general. -- Oshrat Carmiel

Pennsylvania Counties Face Deadline to Certify Results

Monday is the deadline for counties in Pennsylvania to certify their election results, but it’s not clear exactly when statewide certification will happen.

WITF public media in Harrisburg reported that at least four Pennsylvania counties won’t meet today’s certification deadline, with three expected to finish by Wednesday and one next week.

There’s no statutory deadline for Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar to certify the statewide results and forward them to Democratic Governor Tom Wolf to appoint electors to the Electoral College.

Biden won Pennsylvania by about 81,000 votes, according to the Associated Press, almost double Trump’s 44,292-vote margin of victory in the commonwealth in 2016.

A spokeswoman for Boockvar hasn’t said when statewide results are expected to be certified, saying only that “the Department of State continues to work closely with and support all 67 counties as they work to complete the election certification process.”

It’s not unusual for counties to miss the certification deadline if there are recounts or other issues, said Marian Schneider, an elections and voting rights consultant for the ACLU of Pennsylvania and a former deputy secretary for elections and administration at the Pennsylvania Department of State. -- Mark Niquette

Biden Fills Out Senior Staff to Work With Congress (11:15 a.m.)

Biden announced two top staffers for the Office of Legislative Affairs under his administration, adding more names to his White House senior staff Monday morning.

Reema Dodin and Shuwanza Goff will both serve as deputy directors of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.

Dodin currently serves as deputy chief of staff and floor director for Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, and she volunteers on the Biden-Harris transition team leading legislative engagement for the confirmations process. She previously served on Barack Obama’s campaign as a volunteer voter-protection counsel.

Goff previously was the first Black woman to serve as floor director for the House of Representatives, under Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Biden has said he intends to announce more senior administration officials on Tuesday. -- Emma Kinery

Biden Speaks With New Zealand Prime Minister (10:05 a.m.)

Biden held yet another call with a foreign leader, moving forward with his transition as Trump and many Republicans refuse to recognize his win.

On Sunday evening, Biden talked with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand.

The two congratulated each other on recent wins and discussed fighting climate change and the coronavirus while maintaining multilateral institutions.

To date, Biden has been congratulated by more foreign leaders than the six Republican senators who have recognized his win: Senators Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse, Marco Rubio, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney and, most recently, Pat Toomey.

Toomey congratulated Biden on Saturday night after a federal judge dismissed a Trump campaign lawsuit alleging massive fraud in Pennsylvania.

Coming Up:

Biden will hold a virtual meeting with a group of mayors on Monday.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.