Safety precautions put in place to protect members of Congress amid the pandemic are likely to add even more time to the Electoral College vote count process tonight.
The whole process was already delayed today after riots at the Capitol interrupted the counting and certification of elector votes.
Since the start of the pandemic, the House and Senate have both attempted to limit the number of members congregating on the floor during votes and have done so in a way that means voting now takes longer than it did previously in both chambers.
As a result, it is expected that each challenge could add roughly three to four hours to the proceedings this afternoon.
In the House, voting now typically proceeds by groups of members as opposed to allowing all members to vote at one time. In the Senate, votes are now usually held open longer in an effort to discourage crowding. Even with those precautions, though, there are frequently still crowds of members on the floor when votes happen.
In a memo obtained by CNN, official guidance from the Sergeant At Arms and the House physician informed members that they should only physically go to the joint session of Congress this afternoon if they are going to speak — another effort to try to cut down on crowding on the floor.
