The Brief Congress certified Donald Trump's election win, clearing the way for his Jan. 20 inauguration. Under federal law, Congress must meet Jan. 6 to open sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes. That hasn’t happened since the 1800s, and won’t happen this time because Trump’s electoral win over Harris was decisive, 312-226. The presiding officer opens and presents the certificates of the electoral votes in alphabetical order of the states. At the end, the presiding officer announces who has won the majority votes for both president and vice president.