Galvin launches investigation in Boston over ballot shortage

Secretary of State William F. Galvin said Wednesday that he is opening an investigation into the Boston Board of Elections after several polling places in the city did not receive enough ballots during Tuesday’s election, causing “unreasonable and unnecessary delays” for voters. .

Galvin said the ballot shortage was just one of a number of “serious issues” that were hampering voting in Massachusetts’ largest city. The Brighton Democrat wrote in a letter to Eneida Tavares, chairwoman of the Boston Board of Elections, that poll workers who had a shortage of ballots eventually contacted his office to report the shortage because “they were unable to contact” the board itself.

“This indicates that the City did not initially deliver the required number of ballots to polling places in Boston, did not have adequate communication channels with polling places, and did not plan to deliver additional ballots as needed and in a timely manner,” Galvin wrote.

He said it appears that polling places that didn’t have enough ballots eventually received ballots, but still caused unnecessary delays.

“This is unacceptable and goes against the most fundamental principles of our democratic process,” Galvin wrote.

City officials acknowledged the ballot shortage in a three-part social media post X shortly before polls closed at 8 p.m., citing “high turnout throughout Boston.”

On Wednesday, Mayor Michelle Wu said the city was conducting a “full review and investigation” into what exactly happened.

“It is completely unacceptable for people to have to wait for significant periods of time without access to their ballots,” Wu said. “On the one hand, high turnout is a big issue, but we need to make sure we have a handle on all of these issues because protecting access to the ballot is the most fundamental part of our democracy.”

Wu said the city typically bases its turnout projections (and therefore the number of ballots delivered to each polling place) on numbers from previous elections. She added that some polling places also ran out of ballots due to higher-than-expected turnout in 2006 and 2008, “but there needs to be a smoother mechanism to replenish them before any location runs out completely.”

Wu did not address the question of whether Tavares would face any consequences. “I’m sure the priority was to make sure the ballots got to the polls as quickly as possible,” she said.

Tavares did not immediately respond to the Globe’s request for comment Wednesday.

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, Galvin has the authority to appoint someone to the city’s Board of Elections, effectively putting the office under receivership, said Deb O’Malley, a Galvin spokeswoman.

He took similar action in 2006 when the city agreed to oversight by Galvin’s office during the 2008 presidential election, acknowledging that the city had violated state law when it failed to provide enough ballots to polling places during the November election.

That year, far fewer ballots were distributed in Boston than there were registered voters at the polls, and more than three dozen precincts ran out of ballots due to high turnout. In scenes like Tuesday’s, police patrols in 2006 had to speed up voting during rush hour.

The Boston-based advocacy group Lawyers for Civil Rights said Tuesday that Polls in Hyde Park and Roslindale are running out of ballots was a “colossal planning failure” that disenfranchised Boston’s communities of color. The group’s chief executive, Ivan Espinosa-Madrigal, said on Wednesday. in a statement regarding X that “responsibility for the problems lies with Minister Galvin.”

“If Minister Galvin can take credit for his success (in the last elections), he must also take the blame for failures, including disenfranchising Bostonians,” Espinoza-Madrigal said. “Ultimately, all responsible parties must be held accountable for the colossal failures on Election Day in Boston.”

A voter at a Jamaica Plain polling place also reported that a census taker rejected his ballot twice when they tried to insert it into the machine Tuesday afternoon, the Globe previously reported. They said poll workers advised them to place the ballots in a slot at the back of the machine, where they could be removed and counted later after the machine was repaired.

At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, council members filed several orders to hold hearings to study voter accessibility and the city’s preparedness for elections.

“Our democracy is increasingly fragile in many ways, and we all have a responsibility and a responsibility to do everything we can to ensure everyone has access to democracy,” said City Council President Ruthzi Luijen, who initiated one of the hearings. order to look into this issue.

Councilman Ed Flynn said he heard a story about one woman in Savin Hill who had to wait nearly two hours before she received a ballot and was able to vote.

“The poll workers were excellent. The boss was excellent. . . . They did their job,” Flynn said. “They had no leadership here at City Hall.”

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Matt Stout can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @mattpstout. Niki Griswold can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @nikigriswold.