In this handout image provided by The White House, U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama embrace Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden moments after the television networks called the election in their favor, while watching election returns at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park on November 6, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Obama won reelection against Republican candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. (Photo by Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A tally of the U.S. Electoral College vote affirms President Barack Obama’s re-election.

Vice President Joe Biden presided over a Joint Session of Congress Friday as four members of the House and Senate took turns announcing the votes that had been tallied in state capitals last month. Their count showed Obama capturing 332 electoral votes, far more than the 270 required to win the presidency, to 206 for Republican Mitt Romney.

The constitutional formality certifying the vote lacked the suspense of the November election but kept with tradition. The results also affirmed Biden as vice president.

The final official vote from all 50 states and the Washington district showed Obama, a Democrat, with 65,899,660 votes, or 51.1 percent, and Romney, a Republican, with 60,932,152 votes, or 47.2 percent. But the popular vote does not determine the outcome. Candidates get votes in the electoral college based on results in each state.

Obama will be sworn in later this month.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.