BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A tradition that is over 200 years old took place at the state capitol Tuesday as the 2024 Electoral College cast the official votes for the next president of the United States. Despite the presidential election being determined over a month ago, there still is a full process that the Electoral College has to go through.  “We make sure and certify that each elector has been chosen correctly by the state laws of each state,” said Secretary of State Nancy Landry. “The governor has to issue their certificates of ascertainment, and then they have to be sent to the National Archives. Once that is finished, then we have the meeting of the electors when they cast their vote.” In a largely symbolic vote, Louisiana’s eight electoral votes that represent the state’s members of Congress were cast for Donald J. Trump and JD Vance. Each election year all state electors gather at their state capitols to cast their votes at noon. Louisiana overwhelmingly voted for Trump to return as president and all eight votes are set to go to him. “It's an important way for small states like Louisiana to have their voice heard in the presidential election,” Landry said. “Because if we didn't have the Electoral College, we wouldn't have a voice, really in who our president is. We would have to, you know, just let big cities on the coasts elect our presidents.” Salvation Army fundraising falls behind goal during ‘especially tough’ Christmas season Those votes will be sent to the U.S. Senate to be certified on Jan. 6. The inauguration will be Jan. 20. Latest News Location of new Mississippi River Bridge near Baton Rouge to be chosen in 2025 Googly-eye sculpture prank leads to appearance on 'Late Show with Stephen Colbert' Tom Cruise awarded highest Navy honor for a civilian Suspects in Southern student's highway shooting death include man tied to 8-year-old's killing Walmart testing body cameras for some in-store employees