(NewsNation) — A winner in next week’s presidential race may not be determined for days, but the clock for both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to begin moving toward a transition of power will begin ticking in the days immediately after the election, according to rules passed by Congress
The Presidential Transition Improvement Act, which was enacted in late 2022, mandates the transition process will begin five days after the election — even if a presidential candidate has not conceded the race.
According to the Center For Presidential Transition, if a “sole apparent successful candidate” is not determined within the five days after election day, transition assistance is provided “on an equitable basis” to both candidates until a lone successful candidate emerges.
Under the 2022 act, every federal agency will be required to provide access to the Harris and Trump campaigns beginning November 11. The provision allows both candidates’ teams to begin assembling their respective administrative Cabinets.
The Washington Post reported that each federal agency is currently seeking out office space, preferably on two different floors, for each campaign to begin moving forward.
Trump and Harris remain virtually deadlocked in the national polls and in several swing states. Political experts have told NewsNation that election outcomes in several states could delay the presidential race being called. Four years after Trump mounted legal challenges over state results that led to President Joe Biden’s victory, the congressional action paved the way for the transition process to begin in a timelier fashion.
That transition includes access to sensitive materials and key government agencies for both campaigns, even if the election results are being challenged as they were by Trump in 2020. The race wasn’t called for Biden until the Saturday following the election, setting off claims by Trump the election had been taken from him.
But even if there is a delay in the race being called in Harris’ or Trump’s favor next week, the revised version of the presidential transition act will treat both candidates equally in their planning efforts,
The Post reported Trump’s campaign has begun vetting potential Cabinet candidates inside a Washington hotel. However, the newspaper reported that the former president has yet to sign an ethics pledge and agreements involving transition fundraising disclosures and limits. A Biden administration official who spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity said that Trump is expected to eventually sign the documents that grant his staff access to government computer equipment and email systems.
Harris has signed the necessary documentation that would allow her to begin building a team, the Post report indicated.
In 2020, Trump’s false claims of voter fraud delayed the beginning of the presidential transition process until November 23, 20 days after the election, The Associated Press reported. Emily Murphy, the administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration, determined that she had no legal right to determine a winner according to the 1963 transition laws, the AP reported.
Murphy eventually did so, but only after Trump had exhausted all of his legal challenges over election results.
However, the 2022 congressional actions changed the GSA’s role in the transition process, the AP reported, creating a roadblock for lengthy delays to take place.
The Presidential Transition Improvement Act provides for federal cooperation for both candidates to begin the process of building a team even if legal challenges continue and until they have been “substantially resolved.”
That could continue until December, when members of the Electoral College from each state meet to certify election results and choose an Electoral College winner, the AP reported. That meeting takes place about a month before the inauguration.
