“Normally an afterthought, the vote will be closely watched this year as President Trump has sought to subvert Biden’s victory by promoting baseless claims that the vote was tainted by fraud and pressuring state lawmakers to back alternate slates of electors. No states have done so.” WaPo: Follow along as states cast their votes for president and finalize Joe Biden’s win.

+ This formality comes in the shadow of pathetic legal attempts to overturn the election, including the Texas case that the Supreme Court refused to hear because (in layperson’s terms) it was ridiculous. The New Yorker: The Supreme Court Rejects Texas’s Shameful Lawsuit, But There Has to Be a Reckoning. (P.S. The efforts won’t stop.)

+ The courts aren’t buying the bullshit. The diehards are. Legislative offices were closed in Michigan because of credible threats of violence. And from WaPo: Pro-Trump rally descends into chaos as Proud Boys roam D.C. looking to fight. They were standing by. In an odd twist, they were also bending over.