This whole thing will drag on until the middle of December, maybe into January but that's unlikely.
From
Ballotpedia:
- "December 8, 2020: Safe harbor deadline
- Federal law sets what is called the safe harbor deadline. If states have nominated electors in accordance with state law by this date, Congress cannot challenge their nomination.[1]
- December 14, 2020: Electoral College votes
- The 538 members of the Electoral College cast their votes. Electors do not convene in one location but vote in their respective state capitals.[3] A record of the outcome is mailed to the Vice President, the Archivist of the United States, the state's Secretary of State, and the U.S. District Court judge in the district where the vote took place.[1]
So, Dec 8 is the deadline for the states to have their say. All that should remain is for Biden to handle the paperwork.
After that,
- December 23, 2020: Deadline for receipt of election results
- If the Vice President does not receive the official record of a state's Electoral College vote by this deadline, he or she must request the record from the relevant Secretary of State and U.S District Court judge.[1]
- January 6, 2021: Congress counts electoral votes
- The newly elected Congress convenes in a joint session to count the electoral votes. Members of Congress can present objections to the results. If an objection is made in writing by both a member of the Senate and a member of the House, Congress will debate and vote on the objection's merit. Electoral votes can be excluded only if both chambers vote to accept the objection. If a ticket receives 270 electoral votes, or a majority of the 538 members of the Electoral College, the Vice President formally declares the winner of the election.[1]"
Near as I can tell, Biden has more than 270 electoral college votes and there is nothing anybody can do about it. The recounts aren't going to change anything because Biden's margins of victory are too large to expect results to flip.
Trump is not going to accept these results and nobody in his party are able or want to change that. Doesn't matter, Biden will take office at noon on January 20, even if Trump burns the WH down. The whole "election fraud" thing is for show and we should just relax and enjoy the show.
Biden won
We just had another great morning in another great day.
- January 20, 2021: Inauguration Day
- The president and vice president assume office, in accordance with the Twentieth Amendment.