Electoral College Votes Finish in Several States in Formal Step Toward Biden Presidency

The next major step in the process of electing the president comes Jan. 6, when Vice President

Mike Pence

is expected to preside over a joint session of Congress in which the totals from each state will be counted and an outcome declared.

Sen. John Thune,

a South Dakotan who is the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, told reporters Monday evening that there’s no doubt Mr. Biden is president-elect. “At some point, you have to face the music,” he said. “It’s time for everybody to move on.”

The outcome came as President Trump—with the backing of many Republicans—has continued to protest the results showing him losing to his challenger, 306 electoral votes to 232 votes. Mr. Trump’s campaign and his allies have filed a string of unsuccessful legal challenges in several closely contested states that Mr. Biden won.

Mr. Biden, in remarks Monday evening in Wilmington, Del., pointed to his tally of 306 electoral votes, which was comparable to the president’s victory in 2016.

“At the time, President Trump called his Electoral College tally a landslide,” Mr. Biden said. “By his own standards, these numbers represented a clear victory then, and I respectfully suggest they do so now.”

The Electoral College, meeting in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, conducted what is a typically pro-forma votes in an environment of heightened significance given Mr. Trump’s protests about what he has claimed were voting irregularities.

Attorney General

William Barr,

who submitted his resignation Monday effective Dec. 23, has said the Justice Department hasn’t found evidence of widespread voter fraud.

The Electoral College meetings took less than an hour in most states, and there were no electors who didn’t back the total-vote winner of their state.

Added security measures were adopted by some states amid a tense national political climate and Covid-19 restrictions.

Nevada conducted its meeting via video conference, and many electors elsewhere wore masks. Some states placed limits on the number of guests electors could bring, while others moved the meetings to larger spaces to better accommodate social distancing.

Mr. Biden noted in his remarks that the American public voted in record numbers despite the pandemic, saying the country’s democracy “pushed, tested and threatened—proved to be resilient, true and strong.”

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He spoke at length of the efforts by the president and Republican allies to dispute the outcome of the election through legal challenges.

“In every case, no cause or evidence was found to reverse or question or dispute the results,” Mr. Biden said. “You know, respecting the will of the people is at the heart of our democracy, even when we find those results hard to accept.”

Throughout the day, Democrats called for Mr. Trump to end his challenges.

“After today, the results will be final,”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

told electors in her state. “It’s time to move forward together as one United States of America. Now is the time for us to put this election behind us and to focus our efforts, together, to defeat our common enemy, Covid-19.”

On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a long-shot bid filed by Texas Attorney General

Ken Paxton

to void 20 million votes in four other states. More than 100 House Republicans signed a brief in support of the lawsuit, which came after dozens of other failed efforts to overturn Mr. Biden’s win.

On Monday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a campaign lawsuit that sought to invalidate the votes of 220,000 people, asking the court to throw out four broad categories of votes.

Trump aide

Stephen Miller

said Monday on Fox News that the campaign planned to keep contesting the result: “The only date in the Constitution is Jan. 20. So we have more than enough time to right the wrong of this fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election.” The campaign declined to further explain its plans.

Some of Mr. Trump’s supporters sought to create their own version of the Electoral College in some battleground states Mr. Biden won—including Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—calling together Republicans to cast unofficial votes for the incumbent.

“We took this procedural vote to preserve any legal claims that may be presented going forward,” Bernie Comfort, Mr. Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign chairwoman, said in a statement. “This was in no way an effort to usurp or contest the will of the Pennsylvania voters.”

Retiring Rep. Paul Mitchell of Michigan on Monday withdrew his membership in the Republican Party in a letter addressed to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican National Committee Chairwoman

Ronna McDaniel

; he wrote that although he voted for Mr. Trump in 2020, he couldn’t remain affiliated with the party and its efforts to overturn the election results.

“It is unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote,” Mr. Mitchell said in the letter, a copy of which he posted on Twitter.

Some other Republicans also said it was time to acknowledge Mr. Biden’s win.

“Like it or not—I know for Iowans it’s disappointing—but the process is what it is and the Constitution will be followed,” said Iowa Republican

Sen. Joni Ernst,

whose state backed Mr. Trump in November.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito

(R., W.Va.) also said the Electoral College votes were decisive and Mr. Biden was president-elect. “It certainly looks that way, and I think it’s time to turn the page and begin a new administration,” she said.

—Siobhan Hughes, Lindsay Wise and Ken Thomas contributed to this article.

Write to John McCormick at mccormick.john@wsj.com and Alexa Corse at alexa.corse@wsj.com