The day after several polling locations in Boston ran out of ballots in Hyde Park, Roslindale and West Roxbury, Secretary of State Bill Galvin announced he is launching an investigation into the city of Boston’s election administration.
Galvin, whose office oversees election law implementation, said the issue caused “unreasonable and unnecessary delays” in a letter directed to Eneida Tavares, the chair of the commission. He said workers at the precincts contacted his office after they were “unable to contact” the commission’s own election line.
“This is unacceptable and contravenes the most fundamental principles of our democratic process,” Galvin writes in the letter.
“As election officials and individual voters in my own office attempted to reach out to the Boston Election Department and other Boston officials during the day yesterday, they were not answering the phone,” Galvin said at a State House press conference Wednesday. “They were not responding to their own employees or reaching out to them. They were not responding to us, nor were they responding to individual citizens. This is unacceptable conduct, and it will not be tolerated.”
The secretary of state’s office released emails to GBH News that showed their attempts to contact the city’s election commissioner.
“Voters and poll worker ... called to inform our office that they have run out of ballots,” a Galvin staffer wrote in a 5:02 p.m. internal message to Michelle Tassinari, the director of Galvin’s election division, regarding a Hyde Park poll site. “They have been calling since 11AM and have apparently turned away some voters.”
Two minutes later, Tassinari forwarded that request to Tavares and the city of Boston. After another 15 minutes, Tassinari asked Tavares and her staff about multiple precincts running out of ballots.
“They indicated they tried calling city hall for the past couple of hours (when they got down to 100 or so ballots) but were unable to get through,” she wrote.
She then directed Tavares to reach out through police at the polling location to figure out “where ballots need to be delivered ASAP and then use police cars (lights and sirens) to deliver ballots,” and asked for confirmation that this was going to happen.
Twenty minutes later, Tassinari sent an email to the same chain noting another report of a precinct out of ballots. “ANY extra ballots you have should be delivered to all precincts IMMEDIATELY,” she wrote, adding one minute later: “Make sure that voters DO NOT leave. Take phone numbers for anyone that may want to come back.”
Tavares and her staff didn’t reply, according to records provided by the secretary of state’s office.
Galvin said a number of polling locations were not given enough of the more than 750,000 ballots printed by his own office and delivered to Boston. He sent his own staff to the city’s elections department Tuesday and ultimately had Boston police escort additional ballots to the polling locations, with cruiser lights on and sirens activated.
After this article was published, the mayor’s press office provided a statement from Tavares that called any delays in voting “completely unacceptable.”
“The City has begun a full audit into the delays from ballot shortages at polling locations during yesterday’s election, and will work closely with the Secretary of State’s office to support the state’s investigation so that the findings can deliver needed improvements to our voting system,” Tavares wrote.
The polling locations that ran out of ballots include Another Course to College School in Hyde Park, the Phineas Bates Elementary School in Roslindale and Spring Street Apartments in West Roxbury, some of which were out of ballots for over 90 minutes.
Galvin’s office shared a memo issued on Monday reminding election officials to send “as many official ballots as you have to each polling place” and to advise on “very specific instructions” on how to communicate if more ballots were needed. It also recommended contacting each precinct proactively to “check on the official ballot inventory.”
The level of turnout was not a surprise, Galvin noted, and called it “poor management in the city’s activities.”
Boston City Councilors also filed several hearing orders Wednesday related to voter accessibility, including one from City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune.
The hearing order, filed Wednesday, noted that the ballot shortages led to “significant delays, voter confusion and frustration, and instances of disenfranchisement, especially impacting Boston’s communities of color.”
Louijeune is seeking a review of election procedures, including ballot availability, staffing levels, accessibility accommodations and site preparedness to “identify and resolve systemic issues.”
Some pushed back on the city’s election staff bearing the brunt of the blame.
“The buck stops with Secretary Galvin, who has historically taken credit for smooth election operations. If Secretary Galvin can take credit for success, he should also take the blame for failure, including the disenfranchisement of Bostonians,” said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, the executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights.
The group assisted voters with reports of the lack of ballots, lines and other issues throughout Massachusetts. On Tuesday night, the group urged Galvin’s office to extend voting hours, which the office declined to do.
“We repeatedly said if people were in line at 8, they were going to be allowed to vote,” Galvin said at the press conference. He said he didn’t believe many voters left the line due to how quickly police vehicles were dispatched between 5 to 6 p.m.
Galvin said that the investigation will occur, but it is “highly likely” Boston’s election department will have a receiver he will appoint for the next election.
The department was in receivership in 2006, and more involvement with Galvin’s office in 2021 during a preliminary election, although that wasn’t receivership.
“There has been a long history here that should have resulted in better conduct. Unfortunately, that’s not the case,” he said.
