You could argue it is the most important tradition in our entire democracy.

This is America's day.

The transfer of power from one president to the next.

Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause.

A public demonstration that the United States remains a government of the people

by the people for the people.

And this hour my friends democracy has prevailed.

And this moment in front of the US Capitol when Joe Biden took the oath of office to become president last year,

it was able to happen in part because of another moment, one that unfolded in a non-descript conference room in Lansing, Michigan.

We must not attempt to exercise power we simply don't have.

That is Aaron Van Lingeveld. He's an attorney and he was one of two Republicans on what's called the Michigan Board of State.

This board must do its part to uphold the rule of and comply with our legal duty to certify this election.

Now in normal times the job of a canvasser is so forgettable, so ministerial.

Some might even say so boring that we wouldn't even be doing a story about it on NPR.

Canvassers review the vote totals from each county they add them up and they certify the election results.

But 2020 was not normal times.

And after voting stopped that fall, a lot of pressure came down on Republican canvassers from the Michigan State Party, from President Trump,

to not certify Joe Biden's victory, even though Biden had won the state by 154,000 votes.

As America awaits the outcome of this presidential election, all eyes are on battleground states among them Michigan.

Trump campaign has filed lawsuits against multiple states, including Michigan.

The alleging misconduct in the 2020 election.

Before 2020, the idea of a board of canvassers not certifying was almost unthinkable.

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