Elections & terms
certification
The official act of finalizing election results: local canvass, state certificate, and, for President, the congressional count on January 6.
In full
After polls close, officials canvass (verify and total) returns, then certify the results as official. For presidential elections the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 tightened the chain: each state's executive must certify its electors by a fixed deadline, courts resolve disputes, and Congress's January 6 joint session is ministerial, with the Vice President's role expressly limited and a fifth of each chamber required to raise any objection.
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.