President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance are scheduled to be sworn into office just 69 days from today – a time-honored tradition dating back to 1937.
The ratification of the 20th Amendment officially moved Inauguration Day from March 4 to January 20. Nicknamed the “Lame Duck Amendment,” it was proposed and passed as a way to shorten the time between Election Day in November and the new president’s start date.
Up until then, the Constitution was silent on when a president was to assume office. It was the Continental Congress that established March 4 as Inauguration Day. George Washington assumed the presidency the day the Constitution was adopted, but back in 1789, electoral votes weren’t officially cast until April 30.
The formalization of our presidential election usually happens outside the headlines and often beyond the interest of the average citizen who is content with the notion we elect the president on Election Day.
But you’ll remember from your history lessons, we’re actually voting for electors in November. The executive of our respective state (usually the governor) then appoints them to the Electoral College.
This year, the “Certificates of Ascertainment” – official documents containing those electors – are due to be presented on December 11. Come December 17, these electors will be meeting in their states to vote.
The final tallies will then be sent to the National Archivist and Vice President Kamala Harris, the President of the Senate. At that point, the president-elect and the vice president-elect are officially elected.
A few weeks later, on January 6, 2025, a joint session of Congress will convene to certify the results of the election. The new president and vice president are then formally sworn in on January 20.
Scripture is clear that as Christians we’re to pray for all our leaders.
It was the apostle Paul who urged “that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
He also advised believers in Rome, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (1 Timothy 13:1).
But prayers for the president’s well-being are especially in order on multiple fronts – his past brushes with two assassination attempts, physical threats from abroad and the constitutional silence concerning what happens if a president-elect doesn’t make it until the Electoral College meets.
The potential conundrum over a looming Constitutional crisis was the premise of a novel by longtime political correspondent Jeff Greenfield. Here’s how Publisher’s Weekly described the fictional story:
Fantastical and far-fetched in many aspects, there remains constitutional questions and issues that, thankfully, have not been faced.
As Christians, we should be praying for President Biden and Vice President Harris, as well as President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance.
Image from Getty
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