South Carolina joins other states in certifying election results at state level

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance formally secured a batch of nine electoral votes as states across the country certify their Electoral College votes in the wake of the election.

According to local reports, Trump and Vance easily secured South Carolina's nine Electoral College votes after the duo won the state against Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

The vote certification process took place earlier this week at the S.C. Statehouse Complex, where nine electors from the state's nine districts, plus two at-large electors, confirmed the results from their state.

It's not as if anything would have changed, as the state requires that the electors certify the vote for the winner of the state, which Trump and Vance claimed in a stunning defeat of their Democratic opponents.

South Carolina was one of the big "gets" for Trump and Vance on election night, but not quite as significant as Pennsylvania and Michigan.

The Post and Courier described the state's certification process:

The voting members sign their names -- first, on official ballots casting their votes for each candidate and, then, on 20 separate forms confirming their votes -- before transmitting them to the president of the state Senate, the executive director of the state Election Commission, the archivist of the United States and a judge of the district where the electors were assembled.

Those electoral votes will then be sent to Congress for certification next month. The House and Senate will both certify the election results to make it official.

The same process played out in 49 other states on the same date and is typically a bland and uneventful process.

The report indicated that while that's usually the case, this year was "different" compared to what happened across many states after the 2020 election with "fake" electors and dire political consequence for many.

The outlet noted:

One South Carolina Republican member of Congress, former Rep. Tom Rice, eventually lost his seat after expressing regret voting not to certify the result that year and voting with nine other Republicans to impeach Trump for his role in the riot.

Many of South Carolina's Republican officials expressed their gratitude that the state went for Trump and Vance, including Clarendon County Republican Party Chairman Moye Graham.

"I hope you all are praying for Donald Trump and J.D. Vance every day," said Graham.

He added, "Because we want to turn this country around. And I think he's got a shot at it. I really and truly believe God gave us a second shot. I thought we were so far down the track that there wasn't any turning around. And all of a sudden, we elect a Republican president."

That same sentiment was echoed across most other red states, with many GOP officials and conservative voters expressing relief at the outcome of the election.