Massachusetts officially goes for Biden and Harris

The Electoral College of Massachusetts gathered in the State House today and officially cast its 11 votes for Joe Biden for president and Kamala Harris for vice president.

Before voting, the 11-member college voted for Kate Donaghue of Westborough as its president, Thomas Larkin of Bedford as its vice president, Joseph Kelly of Hingham as its secretary and Jay Manuel Rivera of Lawrence. After Donaghue's election, Secretary of State Bill Galvin, who had called the college to order, yielded the podium to Donaghue

Donaghue said she was proud to vote for "a man of character and empathy, who will restore respect to the office of the presidency."

At 3:30 p.m, the formal process began.

Linda Monteiro of Dorchester rose to nominate Joe Biden, whom she said would help heal the nation's racial and inequality issues and "restore our nation's health and prosperity."

Monteiro, the daughter of immigrants, said "President-elect Joseph R. Biden has shown me that he sees me and people like me," with his selection of Harris.

Monteiro concluded she was "immensely pleased" to put their names into nomination.

Electors then marked their ballots and rose to announce their votes for president. The vote for Biden was unanimous.

A worker collected the ballots in a wicker basket lined with green fabric at the end of a wooden pole. The college went into recess to allow a formal count of the ballots.

At 3:43, electors took up the issue of vice president. The vote was also 11-0 for Harris.

At 3:55, electors signed their ballots, which were then collected by the Secretary of State himself.

At 4:14 p.m. Galvin announced the ballots were completed and ready for sending down to Washington. The electors then voted to have Galvin transmit the ballots to Washington and to approve their pay for the day. At 4:17, electors voted to dissolve the college.