BOSTON – The Governor’s Council on Wednesday certified the results of Massachusetts’s electors for the U.S. offices of president, vice president, and U.S. senator and representative.

All 50 states had to certify their votes in the federal election and send them to Congress to be counted before the Electoral College gathers on Dec. 17 to cast their state’s electoral votes to make President-elect Donald Trump’s victory official.

Preliminary results show Kamala Harris earned more than 61% of the Massachusetts vote and President-elect Donald Trump won 36.5%.

Gov. Maura Healey presided over the Wednesday morning meeting where the Governor’s Council quickly certified the vote, on a motion of Councilor Terrence Kennedy. Secretary of State William Galvin and staff from his office were also present.

“I also want to commend the secretary of state’s office for their continued perfect administration of elections here in the commonwealth. We thank you for your work in this election and all elections,” Healey said,

Galvin this week announced that 3,512,866 Massachusetts voters participated in the Nov. 5 election, representing the second highest number of ballots cast in Massachusetts history, behind the 3,657,972 ballots cast in 2020.

Before the election, Galvin predicted 2024’s turnout would surpass 2020. According to the secretary’s office, several large cities saw lower participation rates than 2020, including Boston, where the number of ballots cast decreased by nearly 30,000, or more than 10%.

“The turnout in Massachusetts appears to reflect a national trend, with a significant drop in participation in several of our cities, especially those with larger minority populations, and a slightly smaller rise in turnout in the more rural and suburban areas of the state,” Galvin said earlier this week.

Ballots cast in Chelsea fell by nearly 17%, when compared with the 2020 election, while Everett, Randolph, Revere, Malden and Lynn all saw a decrease of more than 10% from that election, according to Galvin’s office.

The council did not certify the results of five ballot questions that voters decided on Nov. 5.

The referendums that passed – authorizing the auditor to investigate the Legislature, removing the requirement that students pass the MCAS exam to graduate, and allowing app-based drivers to unionize – do not officially become law until 30 days after certification.

In all three cases, possible future action challenging or changing the new laws, or adapting other rules to respond to it, are hovering on the horizon after certification.

The Governor’s Council also voted 7-0 to confirm Superior Court nominee Ira Gant, a forensic services director at the Committee for Public Counsel Services.

Councilors on Wednesday also interviewed Mary (Polly) Phillips for a job as an associate justice of the District Court. Phillips is a criminal defense attorney, who began her career at the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and later worked in the Attorney General’s Special Investigations and Narcotics Division. In 2005, Phillips founded her own firm where she has focused on criminal defense, representing clients in both District and Superior Court.

Ayer District Court Judge Tejal Mehta and Bedford attorney Robert D’Auria supported Phillips’ nomination.