Contact: jwadley@umich.edu FACULTY Q&A University of Michigan’s Christian Fong , assistant professor of political science who studies the U.S. Congress, says challenges to the Electoral College votes will not change the November election results, nor keep President-elect Joe Biden from seeking bipartisan coalitions during his administration. Explain the process of counting the electoral votes. The House of Representatives and Senate will meet for a joint session. Vice President Mike Pence will read states’ votes in alphabetical order. For any vote, if at least one representative and one senator object to the certification of that vote, the two chambers separate for a two-hour debate on whether to certify the results. If the majority in each chamber votes to sustain the objection, then the contested votes are not counted. If the majority of at least one chamber votes to reject the objection, then the votes are counted.