President Obama Confirmed Winner Of Electoral College, To Be Sworn In Twice Due To The Weekend

Congress confirmed on Friday that Barack Obama was the overall winner of the 2012 presidential election, with 332 electoral votes as well as the popular vote.

Vice President Joe Biden, who also serves as president of the Senate, oversaw a Joint Session of Congress as members of the House and Senate announced the electoral votes of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, USA Today reported.

According to Reuters, the process took about 30 minutes.

Obama won his second term with 332 electoral votes, while his GOP contender Mitt Romney received 206 votes.

“The constitutional formality certifying the vote lacked the suspense of the November election but kept with tradition. The results also affirmed Biden as vice president,” the Associated Press said.

A candidate needs at least 270 votes to win the presidency.

Obama also won the popular vote, with 65,899,660 votes, or 51.1 percent, compared to Romney’s 60,932,152 votes, or 47.2 percent.

As is tradition, the president will be officially sworn into office on Jan. 20 by Chief Justice John Roberts in a small ceremony at the White House; however, since Jan. 20 falls this year on a Sunday, the actual public swearing in ceremony will be held on Monday, Jan 21. at the West Front of the United States Capitol.

Biden will be sworn in on both days by Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor. According to the AP, she will be the first Hispanic to swear a president or vice president into office.

When Roberts did the honors for Obama in 2009, the chief justice fumbled his words during the oath and had to redo the ceremony on the following day.