##VIDEO ID:Yt3wpBZ0IIY## [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] in [Music] away [Music] [Music] in [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] h that's [Music] [Music] sh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] get [Music] [Music] [Music] good afternoon everyone my name is Rie luisan at large city councelor and I'm the Boston city council president and chair chair of the city council's Committee of the whole today is December 6th 2024 this hearing is being recorded it is also being live streamed at boston.gov city-council DTV and broadcast on Xfinity channel 8 RCN channel 82 FiOS channel 964 rein comments may be sent to the committee email at CCC dohole boston.gov and will be made part will be made a part of the record and available to all counselors public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing individuals will be called on in the order in which they signed up and will'll have two minutes to testify if you are interested in testifying in person please add your name to the signup sheet near the entrance of the chamber if you are looking to testify virtually please email our Central staff lays on Michelle Goldberg michelle. A.G Goldberg boston.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list today's hearing is on two dockets docket number 1670 order for a hearing regarding voter accessibility and election preparedness and on docket number 1 157 apologies three dockets message in order requesting and recommending that the city hold inperson early voting for both the September 9th 2025 preliminary municipal election presuming this body acts favorably on my separate submission related to the date of the preliminary and the November 4th 2025th municipal election ction I make this request in accordance with the provisions of G GL uh c54 section 25b C1 upon the request of the registar of the city of Boston that statute provides a local option to allow for in-person early voting for any preliminary or municipal election and docket number 1 158 message in order at the recommendation of the chair of the board of election Commissioners I hereby transmit for the approval of your honorable body in order fixing the date of the 2025 preliminary municipal election as September 9th 2025 docket number 1670 was sponsored by myself councelor Enrique pepen and councelor Aaron Murphy and referred to the committee on November 6 2024 docket number 1 157 and 1 158 were sponsored by the administration and referred to the committee on October 9th 2024 today I am joined by my colleagues in order of arrival councelor Aaron Murphy councelor Flynn councelor Fitzgerald councelor pepen councelor derkin and councelor Braden I'm not sure that was the right order okay okay I also have an absence letter from counselor Keta zabata I will read the absence letter into the record dear council president Louis Jan and Council colleagues I regret to inform you that will be absent from today's Boston city council hearing on dockets number 1670 15071 158 a hearing regarding voter accessibility and election preparedness including setting the date for the 2025 preliminary municipal election and authorization of early voting for The 2025 preliminary and general Municipal elections elections are fundamental to local democracy providing citizens the opportunity to shape the communities in which they live they determine key local officials and Municipal leaders who have a direct impact on local policies budgets and services any delays or gaps in election Services must be promptly and properly addressed we must also do our due diligence to secure proper funding to the elections department so that hardworking public servants in that office are able to execute this vital Citywide operation a member of my staff will be listening in and I will review the rec and I will review the recording kindly read this letter into the record sincerely Gabriella kaleta Zapata Boston City councelor District 1 I would like to introduce uh well before I do that I first want to um offer some opening remarks on uh this docket um I want to thank all of you for being here today as we examine the challenges faced during our recent election um here in the city of Boston this hearing is an opportunity to understand what happened identify areas for improvement and ensure that our electoral process serves all voters effectively it's clear that the ballot shortages in several neighborhoods including High Park Rosendale Jamaica plane West Roxberry Dorchester and the South End created difficulties for voters and election workers alike while additional ballots were ultimately delivered the delay is caus frustration and rais important questions about how we can better prepare for higher for high turnout elections in the future we recognize hard work and dedication of the Boston elections Department I've we've relied on you for so much commissioner and for so much tobino we thank you for all of your incredible work and as someone who worked as a lawyer on a of campaigns I know that campaigns are are that elections can be um um difficult to administer but it's important that we hold the public trust as Paramount and that we make sure that our elections operate under complex and demanding conditions to support a fair and accessible voting process our goal today is not to place blame but to learn more about what happened and how we can address these challenges together as a city I sincerely appreciate the election Department's willingness to engage in this process together we aim to strengthen trust in our Democratic systems and ensure every voter has an opportunity to participate without barriers however first we will address dockets 1 157 and 1 158 setting the date for early voting early voting is people more flexibility to cast their ballots especially those who may face challenging challenges voting on Election Day due to work family obligations or other commitments setting these dates require careful planning it involves balancing the need to provide enough time for voters with the resources required to support early voting locations including Staffing ballots and Technology it also means considering how to reach and inform all communities about early voting opportunities to encourage participation so I thank everyone for being here I'm now going to turn it over to my co-sponsors for opening remarks and to I will also turn it over to my other colleagues for opening remarks if they can keep it brief so that we can then move on to questions so I will now turn the floor over to uh counselor pepen but I would first like to introduce uh who we have here before us thank you for being with us here election uh commissioner Na tares and also Sabino panti head assistant registrant of of Voters of votes we will first hear from my colleagues and then I will turn it over to you as a panel for any opening remarks the chair turns it over to uh councel pepen C pen you have the floor thank you madam president and good afternoon everyone thank you so much for being here for this important discussion um you know election days are always important and for me specifically I was on the ground on Election Day this year in high Park specifically at two poll locations where I was able to see firsthand how um the shortage of ballot impacted the residents waiting in line and I think that having this hearing here is very important just to get answers in clarity as to why it happened but I'm also looking forward to being part of the solution and how we can make sure that this doesn't happen in the future while also elevating the hard workers that do work at the elections Department because I know it's no easy task especially for an election that brought out so many voters in a historical election um shout out to all the volunteers that really hold it down at the at each poll and location and for those that sign up to work the day of but I'm really thankful that I get to be here in front of you and be able to hear from you as to what happened what Solutions you think you have in mind and how we can make sure this doesn't happen again in the city of Boston so thank you so much for having me here thank you counselor next we'll hear from the other original co-sponsor councelor Murphy you have the floor thank you um thank you for being here this obviously is an important hearing today on Tuesday November 5th Boston experienced a significant voter turnout yet there were multiple reports of ballots running out at several precincts across the city leaving leading to delays my phone started ringing early and I did reach out I know Sabino we did you picked right up and we did have a conversation early about a concern that was happening in High Park Early in the Morning um these shortages led to long wait times for voters with some individuals unable to wait for ballots to be replenished and ultimately leaving without casting their votes potentially disenfranchising eligible voters the Boston Police Department and election officials did work diligently to address the issue by delivering additional ballots to precincts across the city many of us I was out on the ground but many people saw on the TV you know we saw police officers and cars driving out of City Hall and trying to get to polling locations making sure people didn't leave their spot in line it's it's the responsibility of the city of Boston to ensure that all eligible voters have equal access to the ballot free from unnecessary barriers or delays and that any situation which impedes this right must thoroughly be investigated and addressed to make sure it doesn't happen again voters should never have to wait in ordinate amounts of time to exercise their right to vote I don't think it's bad to wait in line if there's just a lot of people who turn out I was happy to see that there was high voted turnout but in the cases that I'm referring to here they were waiting because there were no ballots so we weren't it wasn't just a line that people kept showing up and said they had to wait for ballots to show up to even cast their vote and so it's unacceptable and we must figure out how to go forward so what I'm hoping happens today in this hearing is that we find out the reasons for the shortage of the ballots in multiple precincts in any deficiencies in preparation or forecasting the number of ballots needed in the future the response time and effect effectiveness of the measures taken by the election department and any other agency like I referenced that the Boston Police Department did step in to deliver additional ballots to precincts to reduce weight times the impact these delays may have had on any vot or turnout particularly among vulnerable or historically underrepresented communities in anything resulting in disenfranchisement recommendations for improvements in planning voter Outreach and election Administration to assure all voters have timely access access to the ballot in future elections and to review how future elections can be better prepared to handle this High voter turnout and also how we myself on the council how we as a body can help support your department making sure that this doesn't happen again so I look forward to this hearing thank you thank you next we have councelor Flynn councel Flynn you have the floor thank you madam chair I want to be clear that these ballot shortage reports of unanswered calls and a host of other issues is unacceptable the shortages and ballots were reported across multiple precincts in the city of Boston including West Roxbury High Park Rosendale dochester Jamaica plane the South End residents were forced to wait in line or were asked to return at a later time to vote my EST my research has said has said that there is 14 prents that did not have the right ballots at the Cathedral High School in the South End which I proudly share with my colleague John Fitzgerald um they ran out of English only ballots although English was also included on the Chinese ballots many poll workers also reported that when they called the election Department to notify them of the ballot shortages they were unable to reach the department the mass Secretary of State also mentioned that he tried to to contact the city of won election Department his calls went unanswered he had to physically send someone from his office to City Hall it's deeply concerning that the attempts by election workers that were at these PRS to reach the election Department regarding the ballot shortages and other issues of concern were unsuccessful Beyond running out of ballots there was also poor lighting at the Cathedral High School location which I visited with my wife Christen around 5:00 on Election Day to bring to bring the PO workers and volunteers pizza and to thank them and when I got there it was it was troubling I saw elderly people having to use their cell phones to put on their flashlight so that they could read the ballot especially the five questions it was very confusing it was very difficult for persons with persons with disabilities in our seniors these ballot shortages in other issues demonstrate the election Department was not prepared it was an important president presidential election in we feel to perform perform these basic functions we meaning all of us including the city council the city's initial investigation found out that there was a formula miscalculation I think it's more than that I would also like to find out more answers today on how this happened why it happened we also know what happened in 2004 when when we elected the first African-American governor in the state Deval Patrick in many of the precincts across the city especially in communities of color also ran out of ballots we simply cannot afford these mistakes during an important presidential election year or any election going forward thank you madam chair thank you you the chair recognizes councelor Fitzgerald uh you have the floor thank you madam chair uh and thank you the administration for coming here to answer some of our questions today uh really focused on the technical aspect and how we can correct those procedurally to make sure it doesn't happen again but otherwise um looking forward to your answers thank you so much thank you councelor the chair recognizes councelor Durkin but I also want to note for the record that we've been joined by councelor Weber councelor Durkin you have the floor for opening remarks thank you so much um I know our elections department operates with with a lot of Integrity um and I know that the challenges faced on Election Day were not intentional so I'm just curious um how I'm just here to listen and I'm curious how this conversation goes um appreciate both of your leadership and um excited to think about how not only we can make sure that our elections run smoothly but how we can also um encourage civic participation thank you thank you counselor the chair recognizes councelor Bren you have the thank you madam Madam president and good afternoon Sabino and commissioner um I I'm here to learn I I know there were some challenges I you know I was getting calls in the afternoon everything seemed to be going smoothly in Alon Brighton in District 9 but I was getting calls from um a friend who was working in a polling place uh in in JP and she was having difficulty they knew that they were running low in ballots at 2:00 in the afternoon and they started to uh started a call to get see to order more ballots and uh I think there was some breakdown in communication with regard to phone calls being answered uh Etc and um you know I think that's there's definitely this is why we're here this afternoon to just learn how what went wrong and how we might make sure that that that those uh those shortcomings don't happen uh the next time um I'm also delighted to say that you know the Jackson Man Community Center was able to be held open available for voting place for five precincts in in Allon Brighton this this election cycle and we hope it will continue to be available in the future as an election place so look forward to the conversation and I always thank you for your professionalism and and uh you know you've always been so in incredible integrity and commitment to Fair elections in in Boston so we're here to do a little uh postmortem but um thank you for all your work thank you councelor Bren and apologies I'm not I'm still not used to maybe I'll ask my colleagues on help on using this this timer uh the chair recognizes councelor Weber councelor Weber you have the floor uh thank you uh chair and and Madame President uh um I just I I think you know our the right to vote is incredibly important and um the information we got on Election night was uh with polling places running out of ballots and and having difficulty reaching the elections Department it's uh concerning and um you I just like to thank the administration for for being here to answer you know our important questions on this topic and figure out how to uh solve these issues going forward thank thank you thank you councelor wber and thank you to all of my colleagues I'll now turn it over to um uh the assistant registar head assistant registar and the commissioner for any opening remarks that you may have uh commissioner you have the floor thank you good afternoon council president louisian and committee committee members excuse me I'm a little under the weather um thank you for holding this hearing hearing today um on docket numbers um 1 158 1 157 and 670 um I'll start with um the first two as you are aware according to the city Charter the preliminary municipal election would fall on Tuesday September 23rd um 2025 and the municipal election will take place 6 weeks after on Tuesday November 4th 2025 in 2022 legislation was passed to make vote by mail a permanent measure in the state and to also provide municipalities with the option to provide in-person early voting in Municipal elections in order to continue and build upon all of the work that has been done to increase voter access we would like to keep both of these options available to voters for the fall elections however in doing so there are some administrative processes um that that must be taken into account when preparing for the upcoming election ballot preparation for the November election cannot begin until after the certification of election results which would fall on September 30th um with the current election date um which would need to be followed by a ballot position drawing before we can even start um preparing the ballots so with rush delivery we estimate receiving printed ballots during the week of October 13th which is only 3 weeks before the November 4th election once ballots are received we will still need time to prepare the ballot kits to be mailed to voters and also to prepare all of the other functions relative to iners early voting moving the date of the preliminary election will not only ensure our department has a sufficient amount of time to prepare between elections but it will also ensure that voters have the optimum opportunity to receive and return vote by mail ballots okay so with respect to the commissioner um they can't really hear you so I know that if you could center yourself a little bit more in the mic and then speak more directly um you I have a C thank you counselor and I and I see you in the audience there are folks who couldn't hear so just lean a bit and I know you have a cold but yeah thank you yeah so I'd also like to add that um both Theo and I are deeply committed to the effective Administration um of Elections and ensuring that all Boston voters have an opportunity to participate and cast their ballot in as many convenient accessible ways possible we take the ballot issues that took place on November 5th incredibly seriously and have been engaged in in intensive efforts to understand what happened and to ensure that our that our systems will be improved ensuring it does not happen again our goal for every election is for Preparation to be timely detailed and coordinated to provide an effective efficient and inclusive election experience for every voter in the city many parts of that system worked as intended on November 5th however there were failures that resulted in ballot shortages in some precincts CA concerns about ballot shortages in others as well as communication challenges throughout the day the challenges faced on Election Day appeared to or with a mistake in calculating the number of ballots to be sent to the polls this error compounded by issues such as machine breakdowns extended calls with pole workers to resolve machine issues as well as voter issues and the amount of time that the amount of time and staff um we needed to identify pack and send additional ballots to precincts made it difficult for pole workers to get through to the department and heighten frustrations and concerns we are committed to ensuring um these problems are rectified in the future we are currently fully cooperating and providing the secretary of state with facts and information for its investigation into the issues on November 5th we will engage fully uh and cooperate with an independent firm that the administration is bringing in to conduct an investigation into the issues on November 5th additionally we will engage with a third-party expert consultant to evaluate the Department's structure procedures and resources in early 2025 and will strive to implement recommendations to address what is now the task of running three elections with a department that was previously designed to run only in person um early in person election day voting and we look forward to the conversation thank you so much commissioner s uh Sabino if you'd like to I have nothing else to ask okay thank you so much okay and just so that my colleagues are aware the first set of questions we're going to ask are again on the just setting the election day hopefully that's the one that's going to be more straightforward um maybe there not that many questions um I have questions hope some folks have questions and also I know that we have some public testimony in person and online on those dockets so we're going to take those first um I'm going to set a timer for myself of six minutes and then um will councelor and my co-sponsor is going to help me set the timer for 6 minutes I just did something different it's different when you're up there there's no timer we're down here there's no timer I'll also set it on my phone so you got it wait okay thank you and thank you for your efforts um in making sure that uh there's enough time for early vote that we are honoring early vote I don't have any questions on the movement of the date itself I understand why um on the setting of the preliminary on September 9th is clear to me why we would need to move it um to that day I just have a question about whether the elections department and thinking about what makes the most sense for prioritizing locations for early voting uh whether the elections Department prioritizes locations like East Boston high school and um in East Boston and the Frederick School um in Dorchester which have multiple precincts do we think about those as early voting sites because they're not currently early voting sites but thinking about whether we would want them to be early voting sites are selected based on the Ava availability of the actual location um we do strive to select locations like the ones that you did mention which have large open G gymnasiums that can be um utilized so yes we are willing to consider um those options but again it just depends on the availability of the facility thank you and what's the number of of early voting sites that we're setting for next year for the preliminary election uh we are aiming to have one in every single neighborhood um at least for the during the weekends um during the last municipal election um I believe we had 10 sites on Saturday and Sunday um City Hall was available every single day and then we had three sites on Tuesday and Thursday so we do like when you say last election do you mean this this this presidential election right it's different municip yes where we're allowed to have one week of in person early voting that was the plan we had 10 neighborhood locations on Saturday and Sunday um every day here at City Hall and then Tuesday and Thursday um we had three neighborhood sites going on those two days uh so we hope to remain consistent and provide a similar schedule to what we did in during the last municipal election okay um does do your department analyze turn out data to determine whether locations with multiple precincts experience higher voter traffic and if so how does this data um how is this data use inform early voting sites so in um inperson early voting is available to every voter it's not Precinct based um such as it is on Election Day um so I think precincts with multiple location um will have a higher turnout than Standalone Precinct so I don't think you can really compare the two because voter on Election Day has to go to their specific precincts so if you have three precincts that voters have are have to go to on Election Day it's kind of different than opening up a location where any voter um can go to based on convenience as opposed to where they're assigned to okay thank you does the elections Department currently collect data um that can like maybe become part of a report like could there be a post- elction report that analyzes early voting and mailin voting to see like how we can be how we can improve early voting and where we should be uh opening additional early voting sites I ask because there's still so much communication that needs to happen during early voting getting calls from residents who believe that they can early vote at their um at their polling location and we have to sort of do the work of education so wondering if like we could do a deeper dive like a postmortem after um an election to really analyze and to have something tangible that shows uh what we should be doing with respect to early voting I definitely think so um however we still want to strive to make sure that early voting is available in every single neighborhood because when you look at the data you're going to see that some neighborhoods are probably busier than others um and we want to make sure that we're always covering every single neighborhood and providing the same opportunity across every single neighborhood in the city okay and then my last question on this petition is I think we we talked about this but why don't we specify specifically uh the number of early voting locations I believe we we had in previous years I think it's just a matter of we haven't secured the election um the locations as of yet okay um because there's still a lot of work to actually reach out to the facilities and and select the locations okay but our goal is to at least have locations in every single um neighborhood across the city we can always explore adding more but again that would come with additional resources needed to support additional sites okay thank you and I know that there's some challenges to have like schools to be early voting sites but we know that there are high turnout precincts again like I said in at East Boston high where could that be an early voting site where we have you know especially if we look at this past election the presidential election not the same as your municipal election but there was such high T at turn out and some of these precincts and that to me is like well High turnout precincts early voting sites so um I am going to oh I'm doing I'm doing good on time um I'm going to stop and then I'm going to allow my colleagues to ask any questions uh so I will turn it over to coun p if you have any questions now is the time um thank you madam president for me it's more about the process of early voting I just want to know can you explain more for the audience um what's the difference in terms of protocol when the voter goes into to vote at an early voting location obviously it is in the same location that they might go into um and as on Election Day so what's the difference what do you guys require an ID how do you how right the voting location employees looking them up so the process is different during early voting than it is from on Election Day during early voting we use uh electronic pull pads for check-in um versus an actual paper check-in on Election Day during early voting these pole pads have the capability of scanning IDs however identifications are not required we do require that every single location has posted signs informing voters that um although it speeds up the process having your identification May speed up the process because it makes the check in Faster it's not required so if someone goes into an early voting location and they don't have an ID the poll workers would simply do a manual check-in of that voter um again compared to a paper based check-in process on Election Day the other difference is that again on Election Day you are confined to going to your specific Precinct so you have to be registered in the precinct um that you live in versus you can go to any location that's convenient for you during the early voting period gotcha and are they staffed at the same level as as on Election Day I'm just thinking about someone that may need um language access Services um no they are not sta staffed the same um on Election Day we strive to staff at least six voters per Precinct and covering any language for that specific neighborhood early voting we could have up to 20 people because again it's just a higher turnout based on the fact that anyone can go to any single location and we do strive to staff um a number of languages at all of the early voting locations okay and as a chair of Technology Innovation I always think are you going to are you considering or foresee the city of Boston using that the technology use for early voting in regular voting days in future elections that's something that's under consideration okay thank you that's it for me thank you councelor pepen the uh councelor Murphy the floor is yours thank you um so on early voting September 9th sounds like a great day could we talk about why this past primary was September 3rd the day after the um Labor Day weekend and not September 10th why that was chosen back then and if going forward we could always make sure because you must get those conversations or people calling because I heard a lot of people talking about you know this election's going to be a low turnout but it's also the day after Labor Day people are just coming back you know from Summer mode maybe not summer vacations but settling in and getting their kids ready to go back to school and most people don't have elections on their mind so why did we choose the third we don't set the calendar for State elections the state does there you go thank you so we can't control when they do but we could maybe put that through was like a home RO petition going forward because obviously vote a turnout is important um what the numbers so when you go in person to vote at one of the early voting inperson locations those ballots are returned to the election department and then sent back out on Election Day to the precincts is that true that is correct so balance cannot be counted or results cannot be released until election day so but balance can be counted only during a certain period That's set um in statute um in regulation well I know they can't be released prior totally but the you the election Department did you open and tally the early inperson votes for 110 precincts yes we did um we did there's an there's a process for advanced processing and removal um and for the past election we were able to advance process ballots for about 110 precincts um the cut off was 2 pm. on Election Day so any ballots that arrived um by 2 p.m. on Election Day had to be sent to sent to the precincts to be counted so there is a cut off so any precincts that weren't I'm sorry I'm getting one here any precincts that weren't processed centrally um in addition to precincts that ballots that arrived after a certain time frame were sent to the polls to be counted so in the afternoon they were here until 2 and if they you didn't get to them then you sent them out they they go out with all of the other ballots to be processed but anything that arrives by 2 p.m. here at City Hall does get sent to the polling location to be counted okay um and mail and ballots I have another question about that but with the mailin ballots were those counted prior same process for both so in person early voting and mail in ballots um are treated the same way so for 110 precincts we processed the centrally the vote by mail ballots as well as the early voted ballots that we had in our possession and do we do that every election or was this the first time we chose to open and count them prior to the election day I believe this was the third time we had Advanced processing and removal our first time was actually during the 2020 election when we used this facility here so thank you all for making the space available to us um so during the 2020 election we did have advanced processing um here in the inella chamber um and then I believe we did it again in 2022 so do you have the numbers of turnout at the in-person early voting locations yes we do have those numbers um we did not bring them with us could you share that because I think that's important just especially looking forward to trying to pick other locations or expanding it um that would be helpful to know how many people actually show up like on Saturday at the Murphy School to vote or wherever the other locations okay I have overall turnout but we can definitely provide without break down helpful yeah um and then I I think I asked this question at the last hearing you were here in front of us a couple months ago but if you request an early voting mail and ballot because I know I think I said to you Suba this happened to me but then I requested the ballot I didn't use it and I went to vote in person at Florian Hall when it was I think the Tuesday night or the Thursday night they were having early you know inperson voting and they said well you have the EV next to your name you can't vote and I said well I'm pretty sure I can I left but then when I went back on Election Day I had I didn't have time to wait but on Election morning when I went to my polling location there was also confusion about whether or not I had already voted or not because I was you know flagged as someone who requested a mail and ballot but I never used it or in so can you just talk through that process and how we can make sure our pole workers understand um we do we conduct over 60 trainings um for every single election we will continue to reiterate the processes and procedures for po workers um so that was I me they do a wonderful job so I'm not blaming them but just wondering if it can be clear for myself also and for everyone understanding that just because you requested a mail and ballot doesn't mean you have to use it and you still can vote that is correct so just because you can request the ballot and if you have not returned that that ballot you can vote at an early voting location or in person and if the poll workers at the location don't understand that or kind of not sure and don't want to allow you what should a voter do they need to put a call into our department okay so they should be calling the election Department directly and then you could assist and talk okay yes okay thank you thank you okay great uh councelor Flynn you have the floor thank you madam chair thank you commissioner thank you Sabino I remember the last hearing we had you mentioned there were no challenges at all for the preliminary election um were there any challenges during the preliminary election as it related to early voting not that I'm aware no saino no would there any challenges as it related to the general election on early voting no no I was at on on Halloween night I was out in front of the South Boston Public Library and many people that's a week week before the week before the uh election many people weren't were going by there to drop off their ballot but it was locked it was shut down and saying that they could not drop off their ballot because uh for various reasons um I believe there was a Wednesday or Thursday and then they were going home to their their their house outside of Massachusetts and they had this ballot that they couldn't bring it to City Hall their plan was to bring it to the um South Boston library and they couldn't do that it was shut or was closed was the South Boston Public Library the only one shut at that time no so it has been a practice um to since the Dropbox fire we experienced rck 2020 that we do lock the B drop boxes on Halloween night um we did put out um communication via social media um I believe a press release to inform voters and there were posted signs as well on those ballot drop boxes informing voters that they would be locked and then they would be reopen the following even following morning I don't think that happened I don't think the um those locations opened up uh the following morning do you have a record of them actually being physically opened up Sabino I may in the office but I believe the sign indicated that all boxes should be open by 1: or 2 p.m. yeah that wasn't the case um was that the only time these boxes were locked during the um during the election during the Halloween period yes did you get any complaints at all about that no no not from one person no okay I I received a lot I received a lot um residents would come to the public library maybe it was just South Boston but I don't know if other areas but they'd come to the public library to drop off their ballot and it was locked they couldn't do it and I believe the one out in front of City Hall was locked for a period of time too right just Halloween Just Halloween um for the preliminary what was the difference between the preliminary and the general election as it relates to early voting issues if if there was no issues that's I understand that I don't think there was any issues okay who was your who was your point of contact at the mayor's office for early voting for the preliminary point of contact I don't I'm not sure I understand if there was an issue who would you contact UM working with at the mayor's office C councelor Flynn is this with respect to the the next docket no this is this one um voting okay all right just wanted to clarify it's with respect specifically to Madam chair I'm I'm can I ask my questions you may okay um so early early voting who is your point of contact for the preliminary of um election at the mayaz office I would imagine that would depend on what the issue is I don't know that I would have necessarily called someone at the mayor's office depending on what the issue may have been and where we experienced no issue during the early voting period so you had no contact with the mayor's office on on early voting issues I had no contact with the mayor's office regarding early voting issues what about for the general election but I I will intervene because this is just about setting the date for two dockets but M chair you you are similar questions as well they were all early voting with respect to next year but these are challenges relating to um early voting and what what are the challenges that happened during the preliminary in the in the general election I'm just trying to get some general information Madam Madam chair it's nothing personal I'm trying to do my due diligence so I can I I understand commissioner if you have an a response to his question I don't okay you have additional time your your mic is on you have additional time allow to ask questions Madam chair you may okay can can I ask the questions without being pursu to the is that okay yes pursuant to the doc the two so you want me to focus on the two docs and Madam Shar that's what I was doing okay proceed proceed counselor Madam chair you keep you keep interrupting thank you the chair recognizes Council Gerald Council Gerald you have the floor thank you madam chair um in in and to do the early voting and setting the date right which is that that's what the one we're on right yeah we're on the docket that's about setting the date for next year's election so September oh I'm sorry I didn't start that's all right I haven't started my question so tell yeah it's I won't start it yet no I'm not worried I'm not so it's on setting the date for the preliminary election which is September 9th 2025 and it's on setting uh the early voting locations for next year's election so pursuing to the setting of the date uh this seems to be something that has to happen relatively often that you have to come back down and change the date prior what would your recommendations be to uh eliminate the need to come back to us this often and and what would that sort of what would that recommendation say or look like or what does that verbiage look like I a a charter change okay I'm I'm M right I'm still this is still new to me so I that's what it would take first the charter and so the charter change would request what would the request for the change be like where we say to make it a a certain Tuesday after X amount of days eight weeks before this prior I just could you explain the language to me at all is what it might say I I think that's what it would be it would be kind of changing the number of weeks prior to the general election that it can it would be set yeah um yeah I think right now it's set at six weeks before is the prelim so changing it two weeks prior to that will be eight weeks before and the eight weeks before that doesn't that doesn't put us in any sort of uh what's the earliest holiday in September if we're looking at the preliminary there Labor Day Labor Day and that would would that date I think it says the 9th on this right if it was September 9th 2025 where does that fall in in relation to labor day of next year the week after it's the week after so it wouldn't be the day all right that's that that's good um okay uh I I didn't I didn't receive anything about the um uh early voting uh there were no complaints as much as in in my district I think about what that was um so I don't have a lot of questions on that one but just was wondering what your your all recommendation would be to sort of head this problem off for future so we don't have to keep coming back to request these changes and H and do you think that the six weeks to 8 weeks gives you the amount of time you need to implement iners early voting uh in mailin voting that two weeks provides you the the difference of um the preparation needed I yes okay thank you that's all I have for questions thank you coun J and thank you for that question because I I was I one of the reasons why I wanted to have this hearing last term this docket on the same issue was suspended and passed but I just did want to give a forum for my colleagues and I have questions to ask these questions because we have to do this often and so are there ways that we can think about how not to make it so um okay the chair recognizes councelor Durkin councel Durkin you have the floor in six minutes thank you so much chair president whatever is the is the top um I really don't have any questions regarding these two dockets except for that I wanted to State my support for same day voter registration um given the date of this um election uh I mean given the date of every uh preliminary election that we set um many uh constituents of my district who are students move and um they are disenfranchised because of the and I think the uh state legislator State Legislature had gone had basically done every step um except for making same day V voter registration um legal and so as it relates to this um just wanted to ask sort of um any any challenges I mean given that you guys have heard of people being disenfranchised um given that our early um date is often um or our preliminary date is often um after you know most people move on September 1 um so they don't have time to register to vote in time for the election do you guys get a lot of feedback on that that not much yeah no not not a lot of feedback on that I think in general um I've heard from a lot of constituents I actually got the opportunity to speak at um bu's um first year student orientation um as one of the first things I did as a city councelor and I heard from a lot of people that they didn't feel comfortable um moving their voting in Massachusetts and in Boston because they felt like uh voting by mail in their home state was easier safer and because they moved dorms during the year that they were afraid they would be disenfranchised for the next year so they just decided that they were going to vote in their home state I thought that was a shame um so just wanted to share my support for that I think um given that every year we're forced to set dates within a calendar that um disenfranchises a ton of people um is a little bit on consentable and I think at the state level and here we should be doing everything we can to make sure that um every resident of Boston has the same ability to vote on Election Day so thank you so much thank you councelor Durkin um and thank you for saving us on some time um okay well not okay start go you may no I just wanted to say I really apologize I wanted to be able to stay but I have a pre-existing community meeting in Mission Hill so just wanted to say I will be watching the tape thank you thank you Council Durkin the chair recognizes councelor bradden councelor Bren you now have the floor thank you um uh so what docket are we talking to or can we talk so it's the it's um dockets number uh the last two dockets it's the it's docket number 1 157 and 1 158 about setting the date of the preliminary election next year to September 9th and about um early voting sites for uh the election next year yeah thank you you're welcome um yeah the early voting sites um I think we had this we have the Jackson Man and the home in the library that worked out I I'd love to um know how the how the um the Jackson Man worked out cuz it was open streets and um I don't know if there if you saw a dip or was there an increase I know folks were taken advantage we were were s of sort of sending people over there Sabino do you have any any insights from remember we talked about it beforehand to say is that going to make it more difficult for people to vote at open at Jack man we didn't experience any complaints in regards to open streets but we did make it available to anybody that had a vote that had an opportunity to vote to be able to go in there whether they were um had any um disability they would let Vehicles go in there so we had complete communication with everybody that was in charge of open that's good yeah um and I do appreciate you know I I this was the first year that I really paid attention to the idea of the locking the boxes on Halloween um and we we were able to let people know that the boxes were not going to be available from Halloween through November first to um I think that was a prudent measure to try and stop vandalism as we saw that happening in other places the other question in terms of early voting I know in our district we have u a significant Jewish community and I know this year the high holidays were later so it didn't clash with interrupt do it ever have it I know I look back 2023 the preliminary election was on the 12th and R Shana was the 15th so that didn't really knock it off but does it ever does it ever interfere that you have to move the date because of high holidays yeah prior to um po by Ma and early voting we did have some situations where the council had to move election dates because because of the Jewish holidays that's correct yeah so I think that vote by mail and and early voting has made it a lot more flexible for people who have have religious or business commitments or whatever family commitments it makes it easier um I think that's really all I had a question about earlier and it's more about the issue about running out of ballots um and I don't know if it's appropriate to ask this question right now but you know the formula miscal calculation like how do you how do you what's the formula like how how do you work that out like I know maybe this year you there's an anticipation of a high level of early voting and vote by male and and I think in a bumper year like a big a big election like a presidential sometimes hard to predict just how big the turnout is going to be can you give me some insight into how that formula works sure I just want to make sure it was in line with okay no bad oh so what we anticipated was 80% turnout um and unfortunately some of our formulas that we Tred to put together for the 80% turn out didn't work to our liking therefore most precincts were okay but there were some that experienced shortages and we try to react as quickly as we could yeah thank you and then the issue with the phone's not being answered that was because you were you had some voting machine issues that you were on the the phones were busy been dealing with with with poll workers questions councelor BR I think this is more for the second docket all right so can if we could keep it for the for the next round of question that's all I have thank you councilen I appreciate appreciate that thank you uh the chair recognizes let me stop reset okay the chair recognizes Council Weber you have the floor yeah I I think I'll be quick I just uh for early voting uh people ask me a lot anyway how much we spend how much it costs to staff the early voting polling places do you do you have that information we can follow up with that information okay um as well as the breakdown of iners early voting numbers okay uh is is thank you um uh and and I guess I maybe this was addressed is it just uh are for early voting we're anticipating the same number of locations uh more in the next one less it would be the same number of locations um as the previous municipal election which was 10 neighborhood sites on Saturday and Sunday um three neighborhood locations on Tuesday and Thursday and then every day at City Hall from Monday to Friday can I just add one thing excluding Labor Day we will not be open on Labor Day for early voting okay okay thank you very much uh chair back to you I just okay thank you thank you so much Council Weber um I have one final question and if any of my other question or my colleagues have any questions I'm going to give myself um oh I did it again okay well um it'll be quick um so in the uh in the docket it states that um 48 hours notice is the election Department will publish notice of the early voting locations dates and hours at least 48 weekday hours before the early voting period begins we often get a lot of calls from residents asking where are the early voting locations going to be where are they going to be where are they going and we are and so know you know because we end up emailing you and um often times with the residents trying to find out when those are is there any way that we could push that up and require the early voting locations be made public 7 days prior to the start of early vote so we strive to make ma every single voter a list of the early voting locations at least two weeks so that they have it at least two weeks that is just what's required um by Statute but we aim to send out our mailers two weeks before the early voting period begins okay so this is by required by State Statute correct could we do could we do more could we require like could we put in here in ours at least seven uh days not even weekday but 7 days prior uh before the early voting period begins yeah I think that is achievable it's achievable and it's something that we could we could put into writing such that voters could expect that we would have it to them and that we would be online 7 days prior to early voting beginning yeah thank you I'd love to make that that change so that we can make sure that that there's more voter information and accessibility so thank you so much uh commissioner do any of my colleagues have any additional questions on doet number 15 uh let me make sure I get the numbers right on these two dockets that are before us before we move on to docket 1670 okay the chair recognizes um councelor Murphy I'm going to start your time can you put a timer on I need the time I'll be quick you'll be quick okay the chair recognizes councelor mury um so on that how early are we sending out a mailer and do we send a mailer of early locations for every election primary and final and special yes yes yes and that's the twoe period so we aim to have our mailers out in time for voters to have in their position at least two weeks um before the election so if we're mailing two weeks prior wouldn't we know at least sorry two weeks before the early voting period begins right which means that we know more than two weeks prior where the locations are couldn't we start uploading why wait seven days before if two weeks before we're sending out a mailer I know there was errors in some the mailer that went out for the early voting for the primary that had the wrong dates but we already know the locations like how soon do we know the locations well they are published as soon as soon as we the board votes on the locations if that's two weeks before the election we're publishing it right then and there so we're so the board has to vote prior to two weeks if you have to make sure you get the mail R out in time correct correct and we do publish it before the date that's stated in the document yeah so yeah so the seven days prior is easy to achieve knowing that we already have confirmed it and mailed it out two weeks prior okay just make sure thank you thank you um anyone else with okay councelor Flynn you have the floor in two minutes thank you madam chair um I also reached out to the election department on early voting in a piece of mail that was mailed out to registered voters it had the inaccurate dates on there can you give us a little bit about information on what what happened and why it happened there was a typo in the document um and I think we've put U measures in place to ensure that that does not happen again the typo mentioned that mentioned the wrong date is that right for early voting yeah it list it did it listed a typo and the actual dates it should have said Sunday August something else and it said Sun Sunday with the wrong date and who who at the election Department signed off on that I mean it doesn't I did did you read the docu document numerous times I missed it okay how are we going to ensure that that doesn't happen again there's multiple levels of proof read to Now set in place is there anyone outside of the election Obama that also reviews it yes yes we have put that in place yes who who are those officials it can consist of members from from do it from other departments who actually work on the actual document [Music] to members of the administration to the to the members of the administration review it this time before it went out yes the one that was incorrect no the one that was correct the one no no I'm talking about the one that was incorrect no they did not so we've put things in place since to ensure that there are additional eyes on the flyers before they are mailed thank you thank you madam thank you counselor okay um do any of my other colleagues have questions on either of these two dockets I see no lights on great we'll move on to uh docket number one 157 um I I apologize it's docket number 1670 I'm going to give my colleagues six minutes for this round um and um and uh I am going to start with myself I'm going to make sure that okay um all right so my um and I just want to confirm that you don't at this time have any opening statements CU I think your opening statement was encompassing the both of them them yeah thank you okay um so again I just want to say that I thank you for your work I know that election Administration is really difficult and we just want to make sure that it's done right um and we want to make sure that voters can go and that there's no uh depression of the vote as a result of things not happening oh actually uh is there anyone here to testify on the prior to dockets on moving of the preliminary election or on early vote either in person or virtually before we move on yeah um Ed you can come down and you can give testimony apologies thank you okay um yeah before we move on this is a public testimony on the dockets on early vote and on okay we are going to um start and Edie you have the floor thank you madam president counselors esteemed colleagues and fellow bostonians my name is Edwin Shoemaker I proud to stand before you today as someone who has served this city as a commissioner On The Board of Elections and now works as executive director of voter Choice Massachusetts today I will address three critical areas defending the Boston elections Department supporting the proposed measures and advancing uh I'm sorry addressing misguided criticisms linking ballot shortages to RCV rank Choice voting um but I'll leave that to my my second testimony um now I'm just going to be speaking on the two docket at hand um with regard to docket 1507 uh in-person early voting is not just a convenience is a Cornerstone I'm sorry it's a Cornerstone of our modern accessible democracy Boston voters clearly want early voting opportunities as evidenced by the record-breaking turnout out during recent elections early voting alleviates congestion on Election Day and ensures that working parents elderly residents and those with disabilities have ample opportunity to participate fully in our Democratic process with regard to docket 1508 um setting the preliminary uh date for uh the 2025 pre um preliminary election uh at September 9th 2025 um allows for timely planning ensures sufficient preparation for what is expected to be a robust election season uh this proactive measure provides Clarity to voters and enables election officials to execute their duties with Precision um and I'll save my other comments um on this docket the next docket um for later thank you thank you is there anyone else here for public testimony on this docket okay great I will now give uh start the timer and give myself six minutes on my questions um okay so my first question and I just you know um I think I stated them in the beginning there there were a number of uh precincts um that we found according to reports at least 14 Boston precincts uh in High Park uh two in High Park one in Rosendale uh one in Jamaica plane one in West Roxberry two um one in the South End three in Dorchester and one in charl toown has your office done a comprehensive list to determine whether like uh what were the pre uh the polling locations that had ballot shortage issues and the number and the locations and if you have that could you read that into the record we have done that analysis however we did not come prepared with that list um we can share it following this meet this hearing okay through the chair if that's information that you could please send to me so that I can share it with the body um what formula or data was used to predict ballot needs at each Precinct and why did it fail to account for the higher amount the higher turnout sure so we um we had some discussions prior to the election and uh we discussed that an 80% turnout uh will be sufficient for this election of course um that wasn't the case uh in some precincts they voted a little bit higher than 80% um but in regards to the formula we um use the return ballots that we received from early voting to subtract from our um um total registered voters but then subtracted that twice unfortunately so there was an error in subtracting in formulas that we had created um but in the future it'll be 100% of all registered voters will receive back bot at every Precinct so it was a numeric formula that's correct internally that you've determined led to the bot distribution issue because we know that there were what we we heard from the Secretary of State's office is that there were sufficient ballots but it was a distribution issue and the reason for that ballot distribution issue is because of a formula that was incorrect okay thank you can you explain that again to be know what that formula was just so that everyone is aware yeah so we just came up with a a formula say an 80% turnout um but we subtracted the amount of returned um early vote and absentee ballots that we received that were already voted from in person or through the mail um but unfortunately we double subtracted that um in conjunction with the space that we had in the boxes that delivered the ballots um caused some of the shortages so unfortunately it's not something that's going to happen in the future thank you so if it wasn't for that double subtraction you're saying most pre thinks most polling locations would have had ample more than enough ballots but for this human error that you're saying of a formula your my error I'll take full responsibility for it thank you Sabina um can you respond to the communication issues um either the commissioner Sabino why were precincts unable to reach city hall when they encountered ballot shortages and what protocols exist to ensure a timely response to such emergencies um I will say the election Department received a high volume of calls on Election Day um we received over 15,000 calls um and we also we experienced a large number of machine breakdown issues so the machine breakdown issues coupled with the ballot issues just caused a large influx of of calls on Election Day which led to the um the the call the call issues what is it what is the normal line of communication between a polling location and the like is there a is there a communication tree or is there someone who they're supposed to call do people do polling locations in W 18 call this person and in W 20 or do they just call the elections Department the way that a voter would so for election day um we set up a phone bank um with additional phone lines and we train our our our pole workers um based on what ever issue it is that they're experienced they use they dial into a specific number so if they're experiencing an issue with um a voter if it's a voter lookup they would call one line if it's a machine breakdown issue or a ballot issue they would call a separate line if it's an issue regarding Staffing with the pole workers they would call a separate um line on Election Day um we recruit a number of volunteers across City Hall to staff our fo Bank um on Election Day who are volunteers from City Hall but not not the pole workers themselves because I knowers themselves so I know that we have recruitment issues even with pole workers and a number of colleagues were insisted on getting more Pro workers but you're talking about a separate issue about people manning these phones so we we did have I think about 54 additional volunteers covering our phone bank throughout the day on Election Day but unfortunately again the two issues combined just increase the um the call volumes on Election Day okay thank you um how were the how were decisions made about which precincts received emergency ballot deliveries first were there Geographic or demographic considerations and I want to shout out again to the Boston Police Department we had that great you know there were we have you know the photo and video of superintendent Bassin and others delivering ballots um but we know that these issues um affected honestly everyone in the city um but especially for communities and um and voters of color where there are already you know barriers to voting um it's it's it's um even more of an issue uh when when there's voter anything that's Works to depress the voter turnout so how were decisions made about how to allocate those emergency ballots they were based on um the feedback that we received um directly from the poll polling locations and and I think at some point we ended up calling into the poll poll locations so as rather than them calling us I think at some point we called um them but that was later in the day I think the first priority was whatever precincts we heard from that actually reported about shortage okay thank you that's my time and so I'm going to turn it over to my colleague councelor pepen uh for the his questions and six minutes thank you thank you madam president um and thank you so much Sabino for giving that answer on the equation and how that was the main culprit of why this all happened and I wanted to before I dive really into my question I do want to give a shout out to marur Santiago who I believe is in the audience for her work um with mvo I know that I spoke to my the day of the election how we were both on the ground um at multiple locations and where they're trying to make sure that voters not leaving the line so shout out to you um my first question is is that formula a human formula or is that a computer formula is that something that is based off a like how could we fix that to make sure that the doesn't happen next time around 100% ballots will be delivered to every Precinct okay okay um I mentioned in my opening statement that three different polling locations in my district were impacted two of them in High Park one in Rosendale believe one of them were facing shortages as early as 2 p.m. how did you respond to poll location that were having shortages that early in the day and had to wait until later in the evening to get the ballots I would say we started our ballot delivery um 11:30 11:30 um again I I it's unfortunate that that happened and they had to wait a long period of time to receive ballots we did start I would say immediately when I became aware of um ballot shortages we immediately acted to try to get ballots out to the precinct so it is unfortunate that they had to wait that length of time to receive ballots okay and um one of my first ever jobs with the city was actually working for a an election and I I remember working that day and I remembered that there were numerous faulty ballots how do we account for faulty ballots to make sure that yes we may say 100% of the registered voters are getting a ballot but how many more extra do we give to each Precinct I think 100% should account for the extras as well um I think the highest turnout that the city has ever seen is probably about 68% which was in 2020 so I think sending 100% of the ballots should give us enough of a cushion okay okay um and if someone is if someone I think one of my former colleagues I mean one of my colleagues access formerly um if someone decided to vote someone registered to vote early but decided to just vote the day of do they have a ballot at the polling location yes as long as we you have not returned your ballot you can cast a ballot on Election Day okay so I believe the formula um that was used doesn't account for ballots that were requested it accounts for B it was accounting for ballots that were actually returned okay okay um all right I think that Madame President asked a lot of the questions that I had and I think that we got some of the answers that we wanted but I just do want to just to the residents of District 5 that I know were out there for for a while just thank you for for waiting and I'm glad that they were able to vote eventually I I did see a police officer from A1 drop off ballots at the Ros of school in High Park I so I literally with my own eyes and very thankful to see that in action so I'm glad that that was able to happen and I I do also want to Echo something that counselor Durkin said and it's same day voter registration I think that that is very important I mean we all have different levels of Civic engagement and I think that on Election Day a lot of people get inspired and they not may they may not be registered to vote so I think that that's a step that the city of Boston needs to take forward to make it happen but with that honestly that's the that's it for my questions and I will be stepping out of the hearing now just to attempt to some family matters but thank you so much for having me thank you thank you councelor pepen for being here and I and I I really do appreciate it and I know that um I hope all is well with your family so thank you and I also want to Echo this two comment of my my colleague counselor pep Ben and counc Durkin there are more than 23 states that have same day voter registration and it increases voter access it increases people's ability and willingness to um engage in the Democratic process but so just want to put my stamp on that so thank you councelor pepen uh the chair recognizes councelor Murphy you have the floor in six minutes okay how many precincts ran out of ballots and do we know the exact number of how many machines broke down at some point during the day don't quotee me on this we'll get the exact number after but it was about 14 precincts that ran out of ballots um we don't have the number of machines that broke down but some of the machine issues were purely jams so due to the two-page ballots um voters were not waiting the 45 seconds that it takes to process the first page and they were inserting the second page before the first had been processed so a lot of machines were getting jammed throughout I was at a few polling locations where I saw sometimes it's Property Management that comes out or someone from the election Department are the pole workers trained to unjam the machine we do cover jams on machines on Election Day however sometimes it's just based on Comfort level of course um and the two ballots I know definitely added a extra layer of problems with the machine okay um do we have a number or some idea of how many people may not have voted because of these concerns that happened no we don't have a report on that okay um were there any problems in the primary election no okay and can you explain why and maybe um because you said no one was there on the final but in the primary you know Mike Firestone and was he there the entire day in the election Department from the mayor's office a policy and then Adam cab bomb from know Corporation Council was in the election Department no Firestone was not there the entire day he was there at the end of the night looking at election results at the front counter I believe right and was he there on in the final election no he was was there any was um Adam cedon there in the final he was he was there yes he was in and out not not for the entire day what in and when we count the ballots early like the mailon and early who has access to those results those results cannot be released until after 8:00 P.M on Election Day so those results are they have to be closed like a Precinct so after 8:00 p.m. on Election Day we start closing out those precincts and when you say um they can be shared they do they have to be shared with everyone at the same time or can some people have have access to those results before others so when we close the precinct we print the results and the results are available at our front counter we in the primary um only a few printed and taped them and I was told it's because you needed to combine the count from the mail and ballots that were not combined yet at the precinct level so the print out from the machine would not have been the total turnout for that Precinct so I'm not sure I think I'm sorry so let me so there's two separate processes we're talking about here so we're talking about the precinct level results which are printed by the pole worker at every single Precinct they are required to print those results and post the tape on the wall and then we also have the results from the precincts that were processed during the central tabulation those results are not available at the precinct those results are here at City Hall those results cannot be closed and released until after 8:00 p.m. so here at City Hall we follow the same process that they do at the precinct we close out each Precinct and we those results weren't released at 8:00 because at 10:30 we still didn't have I think it was 216 precincts did not share their early voting results yet the precincts can't share the results CU they won't I mean the election department and was not updating the website not not thee at that point at 10:30 I hope all are hard working poll workers were home so there's a process for closing out each Precinct and for the September election we did a test run to increase the number of ballots that we process during Central tabulation um again vote by mail we're still getting adjusted to vote by mail it was only um officially implemented in 2022 we're still adjusting to vote by mail and in person early voting um being added to the election process we have never processed I think it was 215 precincts and the reason we processed so many precincts during September was because we knew we would experience a higher turnout during November we wanted to get a sense for how many ballots we could realist realistically process during November so for September we changed the check-in process for in for Central tabulation we used an electronic check-in process which helped us process more ballots and we processed nobody knew those results did even you know the results we did not know the results knew so for 215 precincts it took a little over a minute so starting after 8:00 p.m. it took a little over a minute to close out each Precinct before we could print out the actual results which is why the results were at 10:30 there was still over 200 not closed out not over 200 that's what I was told that over 215 precincts still weren't closed and that was at 10:30 did you want to add anything no I'm I'm confused at 10:30 215 precincts not close well you had told me that the reason why the results weren't being updated and people weren't sharing which we know a lot of people either send a picture or share the print out that goes on the walls because we were still counting and we didn't know the results yet because we were tabulating I think what you're um referencing is once we close out each one of the central tab precincts they have to be combined with the machine that gets returned from each Precinct from the police officer we have to take that memory card the results from the central tab once we have those two precincts that's when we started releaseing we did not finish closing our Central tab precincts to roughly 10:30 and then we started doing a combination of all of those other um releas said you started at 8 so we didn't start until 10:30 when the actual no we started closing them but to close out 215 precincts takes roughly 1 minute per they were all located on one device so there's we can't do anything else with that device that's also tabulating the actual results that are being received from the precinct level itself so we had to wait until this process was done before we can stop merging uh the results from the precinct level and the central tab level does that help yep um I'll wait for my next round thank you thank you counc fan you have the floor the the question I have is you had an allocation of ballots that went to every Precinct and then the remaining ballots stayed at City Hall is that right is that correct why would they what purpose would would it make to have the ballots at City Hall and why not just have all the ballots at the precin so you you definitely know you'll have enough ballots to um ensure that everyone has the right to vote so again and looking into this there's a number of things that are going to be addressed and done differently um however there is there's also a space capacity in our ballot boxes which is why we didn't go for 100% but I think moving forward we will adjust some other things to ensure that we're sending 100% of the ballots in in The Ballot Box um in the morning okay there was 14 about 14 um locations that had major significant challenges such as um lack of ballots do we know if it's more than 14 or are we still trying to figure that out I think more than 14 probably ran low um but the ones that actually ran out were approximately 14 again I'll get the exact number um for for all of you the one issue that really bothered me the most when when I went to Cathedral High School and it was at 5:00 I went with my wife and um it was very dark in there and you couldn't see anything and people coming home from work and elderly people were trying to vote and they were voting with their cam with their with their cell phone flashlight trying to read the ballot that's not that has nothing to do with the actual ballots that's more of an infrastructure planning issue do we go around and and physically look at the location where people vote and say yes people can get in here elderly people can get in cuz it's Ada accessible to the lights work is there heat on do we factor in those issues those are those are issues that I'm also concerned about what did we check the heat do we check the light do we check the the bathrooms work do we do we factor that in yes we do Factor those things in and for we there's extensive planning and coordin that does take place before the election to ensure that every single polling location um is checked for all those things however there are more things that we can do and put in place to engage some of our external part Partners um and buildings that are not city-owned buildings to ensure that they are um making sure that they're checking these things we do have a license agreement between the city of Boston and all of our external Partners but again moving forward I think there's a little bit more that we can do to engage them but but the cathedral High School wasn't checked because when I got there at 5:00 it was very dark actually some people volunteers including had to go back to their houses in the South End and get little portable lamps and I also saw many people um using their cell phone flashlight to read the ballot especially senors persons with disabilities um was very very discouraging in in having to read that so we did we did we miss that part of it that we just didn't ask the Cathedral High School you know do the lights work that is something that is clearly identified in our agreement with them um so again I'm not I think there's just other things that needs to being put put in place to engage of our external process Partners so that they also understand the importance of all of these yeah but when you when you when you come a week or two weeks before the election you come before the election takes place you come back with a checklist you do a you do a runby of all the voting locations and you say well this polling location the bathrooms don't work this polling location is the Heats out this polling location the lights are are very dim maybe we need to add a few more light bulbs um is that part of the process of establishing that we have an OP an effective operation to conduct an election yes it is but but that field so again we work closely with the facilities directors for all these locations um and I just think that there's additional things that need to be put in place with our external Partners um and engaging them on a level that we do our city Partners as well why in Sabina why wasn't the the poll the polls pole workers and city city election officials the wardens why were their calls including the Secretary of say why were their calls not not even picked up I believe the commissioner touched upon that due to the other areas of the office that we were dealing with um caused people to be shifting around um so that's increased the phone calls that we were receiving and the amount of time that we spent on some of the phone calls and regards to voter lookup as well as machine um breakdowns uh we did everything in our powers to try to fix those machines with a phone call to the polling location who Sabino who at the mayor's office were you working with on Election Day to resolve these nobody commissioner and I I I refer to but you you don't you don't check in with the chief of staff or the policy director or the legal counsel no legal counsel walks around the office to help and assist with phone calls just like any other volunteer I called Michael bro when I saw that the Cathedral High School didn't have any lights and I asked Michael for assistance and um you know that was about 5:00 it was actually right at the start of daylight savings time 5:00 6 o' maybe it was the first or the second night of it um but no one from the mayor's office Michael Firestone wasn't around he was around preliminary he was not around um there were members of the administration around but that was only when we had the ballot issues and we were Distributing ballots and at that that point I think I had a good grasp on the operation side and actually packing ballots and getting them out um because I was the one directly involved with coordinating with the police department and making sure that we got the balance out to the precints uh well at 5:00 I was the first one to notify the secretary of state that we were having major problems with the ballots and I talked to the illegal counsel I couldn't get anyone on the phone and they told me that um they were calling the election department and they were actually calling the Boston police it was really the Secretary of State's office that that saved us yes the Boston police did their job and we thankful for it but it shouldn't take the Boston police to go from City Hall at 5:30 in the afternoon to um out to West Roxbury in the middle of traffic at 5:30 in the afternoon it could take an hour and a half there was a woman from Savin Hill that Council Murphy knows she has a special needs child and uh she waited and John knows she waited several hours um and there were no ballots there and she said at some point she has to go home to care for her to care for her family um that's why we're asking these difficult questions because they they deserve the right to cast their vote their taxpayers their residents and they felt that we as a city and we as a city council to we got them down I I'll acknowledge out this this body this city council let people down thank you madam chair thank you Council Flynn the chair recognizes for Gerald your time starts now with 6 minutes thank you madam chair uh first before I get into my questions Mr Ponte a couple of times today you you've accepted full responsibility for this and I just want to say that as hard as that that is a hard thing to do and I recognize that you're you're an honorable man and that was an honorable action for you to do because in in situations like this when mistakes occur it's easy to find someone to try and fall on the sword uh and for you to step up and take full responsibility uh I just want you to know that I really appreciate those actions and I think it says a lot to your character so thank you very much for that um that being said I do want to focus on more of the uh voting locations uh there are a couple issues um I know in the sav Hill Apartments uh the entrance to the voting location is around the back um it is sort of covered in Brush and Bush and and it feels a little bit like am I even am I going the right way am I supposed to be here right as you're trying to enter the voting location so I just want to flag that one and I think it leads more to uh Council Flynn's suggestions about working with uh and commissioner you you you uh alluded to it as well working with those the outside folks uh the operations of each location uh in making sure that um they're well lit uh you know accessible um and uh you know signage is is well um is visible uh alerting people where to go um just had a couple of concerns around that and I I can send more examples um that I've just run into especially when I'm up where all of us go around and I would imagine most of us hang our own signs on Election Day and sometimes we're out there and we see these things as well so as we do that um I'll continue to to just let you guys know um but I think otherwise you guys have answered the question sort of in the technical side of how the issue occurred and what we've done to fix it I'm glad to hear that this proper protocol is now in place so that it won't happen again um and you know human error is we're all at fault for it so it can happen and I just appreciate the way you guys have handled uh accepting that responsibility so thank you very much no further questions ma'am thank you counselor um we are now on to councelor Bren you have the floor and six minutes thank you um Madam president um I I want to go back to the voting machine issues I think you've already answered the question but I think you know this the fact that there was two ballot form the two forms I've heard this as well that that you know people were in a hurry they were pushing trying to put two in at a time some voters were complaining that their vote wasn't a secret ballot secret vote because they couldn't you couldn't feed the ballot into the machine if you had it in the the on the packet that you know the way you secrecy the cover yeah so we had people complaining about that as well so um so it's you know I think it was particular we had a lot of ballot questions and I think it it really did make make things very difficult um and it blocked the machines up um was that how widespread was that occurrent or was that you know I think it was all over the place everybody was everybody I've heard it happened everywhere you know just um and then and then the other issue you mentioned about you know the reason we didn't send out one of the logistical challenges was the ballot boxes were full so you because you had two B you had two ballot forms that took up twice as much room as a regular ballot on a regular election would be so I think it's it was a Confluence of many many factors that made life so difficult for you going forward um do you think our our our polling machines are needing replacement or what's what's where are we at with that I know we had conversations about the age of your polling stations at a previous hearing polling machines sorry so we acquired these machines in 200 and 19 and since there then there has been a um newer model that's a little bit faster um but again this process would require um an RFP yeah yeah yeah okay um the other curiosity I know people have been asking about who there to help you and um in terms of the M you know in terms of the mar office or whatever how many uh how long my understanding was that you know that the elections Department used to be had a in there's gone by I think Sabino you might know this you know in the previous administration maybe going back to when Walsh come in uh mayor Walsh came in that he moved the elections and Corporation Council into his cabinet before that it was it wasn't in it was a non-meal um it was outside of the mayor's cabinet is was there any reason why that was done like it seems odd I have no idea no idea oh well we'll have to look back in the midst of time to figure that one out um all right and then um I I just you know I think the issue the issue about the phone calls I think it was I one uh as I said A friend of mine who was working at a poll said they they knew that they were running out of ballots at two around 2:00 and they started making calls and they couldn't get anybody down to the phone and I think a lot of the poll workers were new it was some of the more seasoned pole workers looked at the boxes and said we're we're not going to have enough ballots we're going to run out and they started calling but I think you know we there's been a new a lot of new pole workers uh as well do you think uh it's great that we have new people working the polls I think during Co a lot of the older folks decided that that that that they needed to sort of step back and not do not work the polls anymore um do you think in terms of the training or or is there more training or more support needed for people who are new as pole workers are you have you have you heard that or is that it's just a question I think we're looking at every opportunity for improvement um however I will say um with the old and the new pole workers we they did an amazing job on Election Day absolutely um they did do exactly what they were supposed to do in calling the election Department as soon as they became aware of ballot shortages um so thank you to all of our poll workers um I think both old and new pole workers they did exactly what they were supposed to do yeah I think that's all I have for questions but I do want to say I want to thank all the poll workers I know it's a very very long day I know that some folks were getting home at 12:00 1:00 in the morning um long long after the polls closed so it was a long and arduous day and uh given the political climate at the moment was very stressful for everyone so I want to just express my thanks and gratitude for all the great work that you you do in your office and and for all the the folks who step up every election to work as pole workers thank you thank you thank you madam chair thank you councelor Bren I'm finally getting the hang of this all right reset uh councelor Weber uh you have six minutes the Clark starts now you have the floor thank you very much um okay yeah you may have answered some of these questions already and I apologize but I think I had three polling stations which had ballot shortages you toward the end of the night uh W 20 Precinct 5 at string Spring Street W 20 Precinct 16 at the Kilmer lower school and at uh uh 195 the colins Departments um and so one thing I I received a phone call uh late in the day they they at from the colins apartments they said they they were running very low on ballots and maybe even run out at that point and they couldn't reach anybody can you just explain what what was going on and why people couldn't get in touch with the elections Department you know if if that was you know and did that happened and then you know what was going on yes I think there was a just a large influx of calls um and a large number of issues experienced on election days so the issues called caused a not a large number of ballots um which were the machine breakdowns combined with the ballot shortages I think we were experiencing a high number of calls that day which is why they were unable to get through MH um and are they calling landline I mean I trying to remember the last time I got a busy signal uh you know or I guess it was going to voic mail and nobody was calling them back is that or was there an issue with the phone lines there was no issue with the phone lines um again I think it's just the high volume of calls that we experienced we do provide them with a number of phone a lot of phone numbers that they can call based on the issue that they're experiencing so if everyone was calling into the same line for ballot issues and machine issues then that would have caused the backlog with the traffic okay and do you have the capability of just emails text messages um is there any issue with like just the the system do we have but um we are looking into technology that can um just make improvements in the process overall okay and then so I I guess you were talking about the this idea of whether all the ballots should have been distributed beforehand I mean is is that what other uh cities do they distribute all the ballots or do they I mean I can see reasons why you'd want to keep some at a central location you know if there's a flood somewhere and then you know they've lost all the ballots and we we don't have any in reserve I I just do you know how other cities deal with that issue I'm not sure about the practices of other cities um I know that the decision not to send 100% was just based on the capacity of the B boxes okay um and then I had heard earlier in the in the morning uh in West Roxbury um from someone who's saying oh we're it was like 10:00 in the morning they're like we're already running we're running low and we put in a request and then uh I saw that you know um that person after uh the election and his thought was well like I was on top of it so we were fine you know later in the day uh do you think that that at the precincts they knew when to ask for more ballots or um is there are there any systems in place for the future so it's not a r if there is a problem it's not a rush in the evening do you think there's any c this person thought oh there was people just kind of sat on this too long before they reach out to election for do you what do you think of that that is an area for improvement so we are looking into a way to perhaps create a flag so once the voters get down to a certain number if they see a bright pink piece of paper then they know they need to call the election department so again we are looking at every um opportunity for improving this process yeah is so is the pink piece of paper at the bottom of the stack or is it in the middle it be kind of in the middle of the stack when you get to a certain number then that is your that's your cue to call the election Department okay um are you going to request more ballot like are we going to request more ballots than we used to because of this I think we had the amount of ballots in our possession um again it was the calculation error that led to um us not packing enough ballots so I I don't necessarily think that we need to request additional ballots I think we just need to adjust our operation um okay uh that's all the questions I have thank you very much chair thank you counselor Weber okay we will now turn on to public testimony um I believe and then I will go back to my colleagues if they have any additional questions uh I didn't okay um I know that we have someone on on Zoom we don't have anyone on Zoom at the moment okay so I will now turn it over to um Marisol Santiago thank you might soul for being here and for all of your work on behalf of mass vote um you have the floor and because I know folks have been waiting patiently I'm going to make sure that I'll give folks three minutes for um for public testimony and uh your time starts now thank you might thank you okay so I'm marisel Santiago the policy and organizing director with mass vote um for folks that might not know Mass vote is a nonpartisan organization and member of the Massachusetts election Protection Program uh steering committee a group of Statewide Civic and community- based organizations we released an analysis on voting conditions in Massachusetts for the 2024 presidential election the analysis using data directly from the programs field and poll monitor volunteers identified major barriers to voting including the 10-day voter registration blackout period disability and physical accessibility issues tabulators that jammed or broke and polling locations in Boston that ran out of ballots before polls closed the program trained and deployed over 400 nonpartisan election protection volunteers at 140 unique polling locations in 30 different municipalities across nine counties on Election Day voting access issues identified by our volunteers include over 156 voters who show showed up to vote in person and who were otherwise eligible to vote but had not registered prior to the 10-day voter registration deadline um and this is why we are you know big Advocates on uh same day voter registration because that would help to solve that over 50 incidents of disability voting and other physical accessibility issues ranging from broken automa machines limited handicap parking spaces lack of handicap ramps and a lack of automatic doors and or doors that wered open 14 ballot tabulation machines that jammed or broke significant shortage of ballot shortages of ballots and multiple bossing polling places the afternoon of election day and in response to the Myriad barriers to voting identified by a program uh again we recommend that the Massachusetts state legislator work legislature work to immediately adopt same day same day voter registration that would allow voters to register and update their update their registration on the same day that they vote everyone has a right to cast a ballot but with an arbitrary registration cut off period polling locations without required accessibility oversight and polling places running out of ballots that circuit right is taking away from thousands of Voters it's one more reason why it's time we join as councilor Len said the 23 other states would same day voter registration uh Mass vote believes in protecting the Integrity of Elections and the tenants of democracy that remove barriers to voter participation and we too want to uplift that when we work together to protect the Integrity of Elections we do do good work together and we've seen some of the results of that in neighborhood precincts where wardens and volunteers have developed good relationships over time and a welcoming supportive environment that makes voters enthusiastic to participate in the Democratic process good collaboration improves voter engagement local Grassroots organizations and builds Community leadership to help disseminate voter information such as ways to vote deadlines trainings and overall ballot education um finally our election protection operations um was over again to train and mobilize 400 nonpartisan volunteers manage a staff nonpartisan lawyer hotline um experienced in electoral law um and hopefully improv Communications around some of the the calls and the concerns that we were getting um just to honor my my time um I will say that I was personally um placed at the polling location in High Park I arrived there somewhere around 4:45 didn't leave till the last ballot was cast at 9:09 p.m. um and we are grateful that multiple efforts um including some of the council members that there was communication happening to make sure that those problems were identified and resolved um and massot just wants to continue to work together um both with the city of Boston and also with other agencies that are responsible for protecting the Integrity of our elections um because we know that when we do good work good work happens um and that this can be continue to be improved um now that we have early vote um and also like other ways to vote just besides in person election day so thank you for your time thank you thank you Mar s and thank you for all that you do um to uh enhance democracy here in our city uh I have on this signin sheet um I know Ed you wanted to also so I I'll call you down to testify um on this portion and then if there's anyone else who is here for public testimony don't know if there's anyone else who's here for public testimony um uh okay um so then Ed and then we'll go back to my colleagues with um if they have any final questions as someone who has worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the women and men of the Boston elections Department I must address the unwarranted and unfair criticism that have been lobbed at them in the recent weeks let me be clear the ballot shortages during the 2024 election were a logistical miscalculation not a reflection of incompetence or systemic failure the the department is already taking steps necessary to ensure such issues do not occur including adopting a datadriven planning model of improving communication Channels with polling locations given the their tireless commitment to maintaining the Integrity of Boston's Democratic process under challenging circumstances it is unjust and disappointing to question the competence of commissioner n tarz registar Sabino Sabino pomante and commissioner Ellen Rooney and their dedicated team um to speak on the docket uh the order for the hearing on regarding voter accessibility and election preparedness is a vital step towards ensuring Equitable participation for all bostonians expanding language access improving polling site infrastructure and leveraging Technology to provide real-time updates are essential instruments in voter Outreach and accessibility addressing the unfounded claims attempting to connect the recent ballot shortages to the feasibility of implementing rank Choice voting in Boston is essential these arguments represent a fundamental dis misunderstanding of our logistical challenges on Election Day suggesting that RCV exacerbates such challenges not only misleads the public but also undermines the efforts of election officials working to address these operational issues conflating logistical missteps with a proposed voting reform is a clear case of false equivalent a rhetorical strategy that detracts from meaning meaningful dialogue and improving our ction systems RCV often simplifies elections by eliminating costly low turnout preliminaries complexity or voter confusion concerns are unfounded as proper education and modern technology can ensure seamless transition critics claims rely on fearmongering and misdirection rather than evidence let's let's let us separate the ballot shortage from the RCV debate and focus on actionable solutions that Empower voters Boston can address logistical issues while embracing reforms that create a fair more representative electoral process counselors Boston is at a Crossroads we can allow temporary setbacks to overshadow our successes or we can seize on this moment to build a stronger more inclusive electoral system that are that reflects our City's values by supporting these measures Boston can reaffirm its position as a leader in Democratic Innovation and inclusivity today let us honor our Collective commitment to democracy by supporting these measures and standing behind the dedicated professionals who ensure every Bostonian voes heard together we can build a stronger more inclusive electoral system for our c for our city thank you for your time thank you Ed um and just one more time is anyone here for public testimony if so we we just okay all right well thank you Ed and thank you for all that you're doing on behalf of rank Choice voting Boston and for your efforts I now going to go back to my colleagues uh to see if they have any additional questions if you have additional questions please put your line on and I will make sure that I do so okay well I'm I plan to give all of my colleagues four minutes but um this is going to be a three minute timer and I'll let you go for a little bit longer okay thank you uh councelor Murphy you have the floor thank you um just want to put a few things out there um Mike Firestone Adam CED bomb were both requested to attend as panelist I'm not sure if you're aware of that they did not come so some of my questions were hope I had hoped to ask them directly so thank you for answering them I know it would have been better answers if they had been here to answer directly um also just want to get on the record you know election day was November 5th I was hearing from constituents starting early in the morning you did pick up my call when I called you Sabino about that issue early in the morning but at the next day at our council meeting there were three of us who filed emergency late files right a procedure where myself Council Lan and councelor pepen and none of us knew we were each filing them that's why we combined them into one hearing order so many of us if not all of us on the council really did want to get answers for our constituents so I don't want to have this uh belief or understanding that you know we're just calling you in here to be mean to you or you know not respect you I've always I don't really know you personally commissioner but um I have formed a relationship in the three years I've been here and you're a wonderful person and I always respect your um you know availability for me when I have election questions but you know you have to be the adult in the room and we have to ask the questions that our constituents are asking so I did want to put that out there and one thing that would be helpful to me and maybe others because I've gotten this question I've try to answer it as well as I can but if you could help explain what the difference between I know you're the commissioner and not every Department in the city of Austin have we have an election commission we have boards some departments are Quasi City departments if you could explain the difference between what your position is and what your position is in the election Department please I the excuse me I am the chair of the board of election Commissioners um I am the one that initiates all of our board meetings and hearings and puts forward all of our plans for inperson early voting um such as the schedule Election Day schedule such as um the one that was before you guys today um overseeing the operations and making sure that every piece is is running um and Are You full time yes I am full time and are you here fulltime in city I am here full-time at City Hall yes I am here full time um and so I'll let you take hold he you missed one thing you are also the department head as as well I am also the department head that's what I want yeah I'm the department head as well as the chair of the board of election Commissioners okay and I report to the commissioner um as well as her being the department head we work very closely in getting all of our tax together to get elections City census poorer recruitment anything that we do in our office we work really close together to get everything done and does your hardworking staff down in the basement there do they report to both of you or to you Sabino combination of both Comin they they'll answer to whatever the commissioner so you both work together when yeah okay um I just want to add one other thing our staff works very hard so even though they might have a job title they do lot they do multiple functions so if their job title is absentee director when it comes time to doing data entry for nomination papers they're doing nomination papers they don't have one function and that's everybody in our office between the top all the way down to the bottom they all work hard and I want to just make sure that they're called no thank you no I've seen them work hard um you've touched on some plans that you've already reflected on and things like you mentioned maybe 100% of the ballots will be delivered so could you share some of the changes you've already made decisions on going forward because it seems like you know the conversations obviously have already started and is this conversations you're having just among yourselves or with other entities with other entities there will be um a report issued to the Secretary of State on some of our findings um and there will be more immediate goals medium term goals and other long-term goals as well and just a reminder um especially as we shift to you know mail and ballet voting and lots of changes you know the elections nowadays don't look the same as probably when you started Sabina right so making sure that we advocate for the proper funding and Staffing in your department that's the other you know role we have on the council we don't have much power but we do have the ability to Advocate and try to make sure each department does have the proper funding to do the job and if we're expecting you to do things differently or if things are going to change then definitely make sure that you reach out and advocate for that but thank you thank you uh the chair recognizes Council Flynn councelor Flynn you have the floor and four minutes thank you um Sabino you answer to the mayor's cabinet the election department is under the mayor's cabinet is that is that accurate to say yes and who's the secretary or who's the senior person at the mayor's cabinet do you know who that point of contact is I'm not sure what you're referring to but we we do fall under the um excuse me we fall under the law Department okay so Adam cabon is is ultimately responsible I should say right for our department yes yes Council Murphy you mentioned that at was invited um do you know why Council Murphy or or councilor luisan why Adam didn't show up I I do think it's a bit unfair for for us to um ask difficult questions to the commissioner and to Sabino and um not giving Adam an opportunity to be here too but do you do either of you have an idea why he wasn't here uh so two days ago we sent a request we received a request from Council Murphy to have him here and we submitted that request to him uh when it was received and he has a conflict it was a it was short notice maybe we might also have to have another followup hearing to get Adam here and ask him some questions I don't want to see um the election commissioner commissioner tavarus and Sabino take the fall for election day operations um I think that would be unfair I think they have earned the opportunity to continue to provide the best leadership they can certainly we have major challenges and I think it is appropriate for us to follow up this meeting and have another meeting uh with with the senior person which is Adam um Sabino 2004 the election Department was placed in receivership under the Secretary of State's office is that accurate 2006 200 why was it placed under receivership I wasn't in a position to make any decisions back then but I believe it was also um some inquiries about ballot shortages okay similar to what we're going through right now we we are we are stay we are saying here today that we're going to make sure this never happens again but we not not us in this room but we also made that Collective argument in 2006 that it this will never happen again we would make the steps necessary to ensure that the next election of of various elections um that take place operate effectively that's not the case so we can't just come here and say you know let's work together and the next election is going to be um operating effectively we tried that um I do I am advocating for the election of bit to to be placed in receivership um to provide the necessary leadership administrative support to both of you I think both of you can continue the the work that you're doing with your with your team but I do think there should be an overseer I'm not sure if that if if Adam is going to play that role or not but I do think you both of you should have the opportunity to continue to provide leadership I also want to highlight that early uh same day registration I don't think that's I don't think we're capable of doing that I think we have enough challenges as it is to um have people come walking into a voting Place sign up to vote and uh to register to vote and and and to vote I think our workers are are overworked and and that puts an unfair burden on them I think rank Choice voting I don't think we can go forward with that after this recent election as well I know it's Politically Incorrect to say that and I bet you 70% of the people support rank Choice voting but is it fair to the election Department to the rank and file workers to to to try to figure out rank rank Choice voting on Election night and are we confident that they're able to do it no the answer is no we're not able to do that maybe after several times several elections will we demonstrate that we are professional and committed to feir elections open elections maybe it's a different argument but at this time I think we we have to be honest with ourselves and say no that can't happen thank you madam chair thank you Flynn uh councelor Bren do you have you don't do you have any if not just one um okay one more question um I know you have the election advisory commit uh committee is that still how often does that meet and and what's their role in in advising uh around things like this we do still have an election advisory committee we try to we try to meet four times a year um and they are kind of our ears on the ground they provide a lot of feedback from what they're hearing in the community I usually um I'll run our plan for the upcoming election by them as well um just to get feedback on some of the things that we are putting in place and how many members does the committee have oh jeez there there's a number of them there's more than there's probably more than 10 members and you know Mass vote Mass voter table yeah um CPA CPA is on there yeah we try to gauge um folks from different um neighborhoods we have a representative from was it Pastor Florissant Pastor Kiki um so we we just try to Rachel c yeah Rachel C Professor C from suffk University um so there's a number of folks on there um that we try to and they're able to give you valuable feedback on how what they hear out in the in the community so give you let you know what's going down very good okay I think that's all I had Madam chair thank you thank you do any of my colleagues have any additional questions no okay um I believe there is um uh one more person for public testimony before I dismiss this panel I just want to say thank you for all of your work um I I know that it's it's hard work but I also know that you care deeply about elections and about getting it right so to hear that Sabino um about the human error and about this the twice subtraction for someone who I know you are just so meticulous um we've all been there we've all made mistakes and so I hope no one is beating themselves up too hard about it I I I do want to State for the record that the Secretary of State's office was invited but because of the ongoing investigation they declined to appear um and I also want to know the last time we actually had you both here was for ranway voting the homo petition in which you talked about the machines and the uh how there going to be a need for new machines anyway and I think it's the work of this body to be able to support democracy and to be able to support the work that you're doing the need for new machines and the the the discussions that we had here about how methods to really increase uh Democratic participation to increase what it looks like to make sure voters are elected the the people who are elected are reflection of the majority will which is a lot of what rank Choice voting is about a consensus building I really appreciated that hearing and your testimony at that hearing because um it showed what was possible when we worked together and I really appreciate that so thank you for being here I know that we're going to continue have ongoing we're going to continue to have ongoing discussions and um when the Secretary of State uh fin analyzes it's its investigation and its report we'll probably have more to discuss and talk about but thank you for being here um we only have one person on uh I believe one person for public testimony we hear that person and um and then I we will we will adjourn so thank you uh Michelle if you could please uh if if you could please state your name um and your neighborhood and your affiliation oh Jonathan okay yes you have the uh jonath Jonathan con um from the south end um the policy director with Progressive Mass folks know me from many uh different political hats as well uh wanted to thank you for taking time on this Friday uh to talk about important issues regarding elections uh probably not how people love sending their Fridays uh so I wanted to make sure I send Express appreciation on that front uh and want to talk particularly about the order regarding early voting um early having inperson early voting is critical for expanding accessibility managing the weight times helping ensure that people have a positive voting experience because we know that creating positive voter experience is help people become lifelong voters wanted to note a few quick things about uh the order one uh the order on early voting talks about how the the voting locations can be updated up to 48 hours in advance and I would urge you to make sure that there is a much longer lead time in any voting locations that get chosen knowing the fact that people people plan much longer than just on a 48 hour basis the city sends out helpful mailers listing the locations for early voting and any of that work about educating voters about how and when to vote isn't something that easily turns on a 48 hour hour basis so having that longer Runway it's stuff that really needs to be set in place weeks before uh weeks before early voting starts I would also urge uh you as thinking about what sites to use for early voting to think about places that are already often used as high voting locations to begin with uh that we have throughout the city a number of polling locations that are hubs for a number of precincts nearby so there are already places that people in those surrounding neighborhoods are used to voting and getting people into the patterns that they're used to but on other days are what some of the best ways to make sure people take advantage of inperson early voting and help to manage the voting process process locations like East Boston high school which serves Precinct 6 to10 inward War I Cathedral High School close to me which serves several precincts in both ward 3 and 8 uh the Frederick Middle School which serves a number of precincts in Dorchester and Roxberry uh the Jackson men uh and that serves a number of precincts in Austin Brighton and Boston green Academy that also had of an Austin bright and serving a number of precincts those areas people are you a number people are used to voting for it helps also increase the visible presence of an election as you think about what places to hold think about how to site early voting in places where people will be passing by a location it's why the BPL and your me is such a valuable site people pass by it it makes it so that you can see that you can vote here that day you pass by it in the through everyday traffic I also urge you to make sure that you have as many locations as possible particularly in the neighborhood as opposed to just a Reliance on City Hall which only serves best those who live in neighborhoods near C neighborhoods nearby and people who work downtown uh and try to make sure that for the most part there is at least one location within a mile of Voters throughout the city as a way of making sure that everybody can take advantage of it um so want to thank you for this and before going just wanted to quickly uh push back against one thing that recently said uh our city can definitely handle election day registration or rank Choice voting uh I know I know so many pole workers they are intelligent they're hardworking they're committed people many of them want to be able to register voters on Election Day and find it disappointing whenever somebody comes to vote thinking that they are registered and they have to turn those voters away that New Hampshire has done that for a while Maine has done that for a while Maine does rank Choice voting I don't think that our election workers are any are in any way inferior to the election workers in surrounding states uh and think that they can do great things when we ask them to do great things so I wanted to just put in that phrase for uh for the hardworking people in elections uh and then I will free you to your Friday so thank you again okay thank you Jonathan and thank you for all you do for City and thank you for those remarks um that there's no public testimony I will now turn it over to my colleagues if they have any closing remarks uh starting with councelor Murphy no just thank you for being here and I look forward to hearing um you know what changes are going to be made and how I can be helpful and supportive so thank you for being here thank you councel Murphy councelor Flynn I also want to thank the administration team that's here I do think we have to have another follow-up hearing with the supervises of the election department to get more information on exactly what went wrong and what leadership um some of the leaders in the mayor's office were playing on this particular day I think that's that's a critical part of this of this um issue in making sure we're all accountable and you know I found it very disturbing at the Cathedral High School when elderly people people of color seniors um were having were not giving a fair opportunity to vote because of the lack of Lights in in the in the auditori orium in the gymnasium we talk about ensuring every person have the right to vote access to the ballot and that didn't happen Cathedral High School is located between Villa Victoria and Cathedral public housing down the road from Castle Square development one of the most diverse areas in the city of Boston and we didn't provide the leadership necessary to ensure every vote was counted as City councilors I'm embarrassed about that thank you madam chair thank you councel Flyn councelor bradden you have the floor thank you madam chair and just want to thank you both for being here this afternoon on a Friday uh Friday evening Friday afternoon I I also want to I know we've interacted over the many years and I appreciate your professionalism and um I I appreciate your commitment to you looking at the what happened and and fixing it so uh thank you for your work and pass our thanks also to your team down in the elections Department it's uh elections are always stressful and it's only part of the work that you do in the city so thank you very much thank you thank you councelor bradden um I again just want to Echo uh my colleagues and thanking you for all of the incredible work that you do I know for many of us the first time I got to know you uh Sabino was myself when I was coming and figuring out how to make sense of the entire process and you were there with a very C like I actually think Sabo cannot make errors because of how helpful you were were in the process to so many of us but we are all human and I know that there's more postmortem work to be done the Secretary of States doing their own investigation so uh perhaps there'll there'll be more that comes out but I also know that our democracy is a project and that every day we we build a more perfect union and that every day we're working to build um a a a voting environment where people are I think it was my soul said how are we encouraging people to feel like they they can that they want to participate in democracy Whenever there are ballot shortages that doesn't encourage people and so um I know that you all will continue to try to make it work work right and I know that you all love the city and I know that you love the work that you do and care deeply deeply deeply about Democratic access right the V right to vote is sacred as John Lewis stated and we are going to continue every day to make it more sacred because it's important to our residents thank you so much everyone thank you to Central staff for being here um we it's very rare that we have a Friday um afternoon hearing but we had it because this topic is incredible important so thank you to everyone for being here thank you to everyone who came for public testimony um this hearing on dockets number 160 1670 1 157 and 1 158 is adjourned