Bidens term ends on Jan. 20th, if the Nov. election winner isn't certified by then....

[Fiendish Thingy]

40. The Electoral Count Act says the governor/SOS has the final authority to certify the state's electors

I’m not aware of any states where the legislature has given an elections commission authority over the governor to certify slates of electors. My understanding is it must be someone in the executive branch, almost always the governor or SOS.

If the executive authority and the legislature disagree, or if one of the candidates raises a challenge, then, for the first time, the decision is now placed in the hands of a three judge panel.

It is conceivable that if there were county elections commissioners or elections boards refusing to certify vote tallies (as was the case in PA in 2020 IIRC), the panel of judges could decide to ignore those uncertified votes, and determine the state’s slate of electors based on the remaining certified vote totals.

Or the governor/AG could order the recalcitrant elections officials to be arrested, and appoint someone else to certify the vote count before it goes to the panel of judges.

Because of the updated ECA, we could be in uncharted waters in the aftermath of Election Day. The media has ignored this variable, even though it has been the law for almost two years.