Chico man casts vote as one of 11 electors

BOSTON » Chico native Wayne Yeh was one of 11 state electors to cast a vote in the Massachusetts Electoral College on Monday at the Massachusetts State House, a process he was inspired to take part in beginning several years ago.

Yeh and fellow Massachusetts electors cast their votes for Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president, which will be now sent to Congress to be formally counted. California’s 55 electoral votes officially put Biden above the 270-vote mark and affirmed he will be the 46th president of the United States.

Yeh, who was born in Chico and graduated from Pleasant Valley High in 2012, moved to Boston after high school to attend Tufts University. Following the 2016 presidential election, Yeh was inspired to get more involved in the democratic process. In 2020, he decided to formally participate in Massachusetts’ Democratic State Committee. That led him running to be a member of the electoral

college representing Massachusetts.

“Typically, the goal of elector … it tends to select people who have been longtime party activists or more senior roles in the party,” Yeh said. “But given the direction of the country, and really needing to have younger people be more engaged and take ownership over this, I really wanted to get involved myself. And hopefully, that will inspire other folks to too.”

In addition to representing a voice for the country’s younger generations, Yeh was representing Asian Americans, children of immigrants ( his parents are Chinese Laotian refugees) and the LGBTQ+ community, all of which he highlighted while speaking to cast his vote, and later in the proceedings, when he seconded the nomination of Harris for vice president.

“I wanted to make sure that those people who eventually are selected to represent Massachusetts represent the demographics that are diverse, whether it be in age, or LGBTQ+, or race and ethnicity,” Yeh said. “For me, it was really important to bring that up. Especially being Asian American, there’s typically this perception that Asian folks aren’t as politically active, or won’t speak up about issues that matter or impact their lives. I really wanted to take the opportunity to uplift and highlight that and be a member of the electoral college to show that our people, including young people, are getting involved and engaged.”

The Electoral College proceedings, held at the historic state house venue, would normally be filled with people in attendance. Instead, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was limited to the electors, with Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin presiding.

Prior to Biden being selected as the Democratic Party nominee, Yeh supported Bernie Sanders, but had no reservations about supporting Biden when it came time to do so. He mentioned that during the process Monday to highlight the unity of coming together for another candidate, Biden, for the general election.

“Even if I supported someone else, it was really critical for people to come together in the general election, regardless of who they supported, and especially for young people,” Yeh said. “I think that was really critical to helping Joe Biden get elected as president.”

Yeh’s parents — his mom, Pat Yeh, and dad, Judd Yeh — still live in Chico and run Ellen’s Donut Nook in downtown Chico. It has been their business dating back 25 years to when Pat was pregnant with Wayne.

In addition to the aforementioned groups he represented, Wayne Yeh said he also thought of his Chico roots during Monday’s electoral college proceedings.

“I felt like it was a really awesome experience and opportunity to be a part of the nation’s history in electing the President of the United States, regardless of who it is,” Yeh said. “For me, being a person who is the (child) of immigrants and refugees, I felt like it was important for me to bring that experience in as I officially voted for president. Even being from Chico, and ( having) gone all the way across the country now, but I still hold my roots of being from Chico. My parents are still there. I definitely wanted to acknowledge that and bring that with me.”