Massachusetts Electors Cast 11 State Votes For Biden, Harris

Massachusetts electors have cast the state’s 11 electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Biden handily won Massachusetts with more than 65% of the vote.

The electors, who were chosen by Massachusetts voters in the Nov. 3 election, gathered Monday at 3 p.m. to cast their votes in the House chamber at the Massachusetts Statehouse.

Before voting, 10 of the 11 original electors had to fill one of the seats left vacant by the death of elector Ronald Valerio of Auburn.

The Commonwealth William Galvin began the process by taking a roll of the electors and announcing the vacancy.

State law allows electors to choose any Massachusetts citizen to fill a vacancy among electors. The Massachusetts Democratic Party has a practice of choosing two alternate electors to attend the meeting, in case of a vacancy.

The 10 remaining electors — Kathleen Donaghue, of Westborough; Joseph Kelly, of Hingham; Nicole LaChapelle, of Easthampton; Thomas Larkin, of Bedford; Robert Markel, of Boston; Linda Monteiro, of Boston; Jay Manuel Rivera, of Lawrence; Norma Shulman, of Framingham; Teresa Walsh, of Medford; and Wayne Yeh, of Boston — voted to have Lesley Phillips of Cambridge fill the vacancy.

The electors then cast their ballots for Biden and Harris.

The 11 electors reflects the number of U.S. House and Senate seats each state has in Congress. Massachusetts has nine House seats and two Senate seats.

The presidential election is a two-step process in the U.S.

Voters nationwide cast their ballots in November. The candidates receiving the most votes generally win that state’s electoral votes and receive that number of electors in the Electoral College.

Electors from each state then gather in December to officially vote for president and vice president. The candidates who receive a majority of the 538 votes in the Electoral College win.