One of the grandest moments in politics is when Congress counts the electoral votes to certify the new president, with the sitting vice president presiding over the affair.

It can be even more grand when the vice president is also the winner, as happened in 1989, or it can be a wrenching moment when the vice president was the loser, as happened in 2001.

Now it’s Vice President Kamala Harris who faces that ultimate high of confirming herself as a history-making first woman president — or a despairing low point of certifying her opponent, a man she compares to Nazis, as the victor.

Experts said the moment has taken on even more significance after the 2020 fight over certification of the results and former President Donald Trump’s attempts to have then-Vice President Mike Pence step beyond the traditional ceremonial role and disqualify some slates of electors.

“That was the first time that I know of in our history that the vice president was encouraged by the president to use that ceremonial role to prevent the final certification of the election,” Daniel Mallinson, a political scientist at Pennsylvania State University, said in an email. “The insurrection at the Capitol that stopped the electoral vote counting and Pence’s role in the counting, including rhetoric in the crowd about hanging the Vice President (not to mention the setting up a of a noose on the Capitol grounds) very much raised the profile of this step in the process.”

The Constitution specifically names the “President of the Senate” to oversee the vote counting. The Constitution also makes the vice president the president of the Senate, a unique role spanning two branches of government.

In the vice president’s absence, a senator presides, beginning with the elected president pro tempore, usually the most senior member of the majority party.

Overseeing the count in your own election isn’t unprecedented.

Daniel S. Holt, an associate historian with the U.S. Senate Historical Office, said eight sitting vice presidents have run for office and six of them presided over the certification of the electoral votes. That included John Adams, the first vice president, certifying his elevation to president in 1797.

More recently, Vice President George H.W. Bush certified his own win in 1989.

And Vice President Al Gore certified his loss, after a bitterly divided election, in 2001.

Neither a spokesperson from the Harris campaign nor from the Trump campaign responded to a request for comment about Ms. Harris’ role that will take place on Jan. 6, 2025.

Joel Goldstein, who specializes in studying the vice president as an emeritus professor at Saint Louis University School of Law, said what makes next year’s certification unique is less Ms. Harris and more the history of Mr. Trump.

“For most of American history, the electoral vote count has been a ceremonial occasion which served to reaffirm commitment to fair democratic procedures and the rule of law,” Mr. Goldstein said. “President Trump rejected those norms with his misconduct prior to and on January 6, 2021.”

He said Mr. Pence was right to refuse Mr. Trump’s entreaties to upend the results.

• Stephen Dinan and Jeff Mordock contributed to this report. 

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.