Agencies across the federal government are preparing to brief the presidential transition teams of both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump if the White House winner isn’t immediately clear in November.
Federal agency officials are developing plans for such an eventuality thanks to a law that passed in the wake of the messy 2020 presidential transition.
Under that 2022 law, agencies must offer access to both presidential transition teams if one of the candidates hasn’t conceded within five days of the election. Given the tight polling numbers and the possibility of legal disputes over the results, that scenario appears entirely plausible.
That means agencies — including EPA and the Interior and Energy departments — could soon be in the unusual situation of simultaneously helping both the Harris and Trump teams prepare to take office. The multiple transitions would continue until “it is substantially certain” who will win the majority of electoral votes, the law says.
