Page:King v. Whitmer (20-13134) (2020) Opinion and Order.pdf/3

 No. 36-4 at Pg ID 2622.) Many of those votes were cast by absentee ballot. This was due in part to the coronavirus pandemic and a ballot measure the Michigan voters passed in 2018 allowing for no-reason absentee voting. When the polls closed and the votes were counted, Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. had secured over 150,000 more votes than President Donald J. Trump in Michigan. (Id.)

Michigan law required the Michigan State Board of Canvassers to canvass results of the 2020 General Election by November 23, 2020. Mich. Comp. Laws § 168.842. The State Board did so by a 3-0 vote, certifying the results “for the Electors of President and Vice President,” among other offices. (ECF No. 36-5 at Pg ID 2624.) That same day, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the Certificates of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Vice President Biden and Senator Kamala D. Harris. (ECF No. 36-6 at Pg ID 2627-29.) Those certificates were transmitted to and received by the Archivist of the United States. (Id.)

Federal law provides that if election results are contested in any state, and if the state, prior to election day, has enacted procedures to decide controversies or contests over electors and electoral votes, and if these procedures have been applied, and the decisions are made at least six days before the electors’ meetings, then the decisions are considered conclusive and will apply in counting the electoral votes. 3 U.S.C. § 5. This date (the “Safe Harbor” deadline) falls on