Boston election officials prepare for Nov. 3 as council weighs Question 4

Boston's new elections leaders told a City Council committee Oct. 2 that they are training poll workers and tightening ballot checks for a Nov. 3 election with a three-page ballot and nine statewide questions. They urged residents to vote early or by mail.

City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune (at-large), who chairs the Census, Redistricting, and Elections Committee, said at the end of the hearing that she would seek a council vote on docket 1805, a resolution supporting Question 4. She held docket 0183, a broader order on voter access and election preparedness, in committee.

Question 4 would let eligible voters register, or update their address, at their polling place on Election Day. Massachusetts now requires people to register at least 10 days before an election, and the change would not take effect until 2028.

The hearing came as the city's Elections Department remains under state oversight after ballot shortages in the 2024 presidential election, and as advocates raised fears about federal agents at polling places. No one testified against Question 4.

What voters can expect

Paul Chung, the city's commissioner of city records, who served as interim elections director, said staff helped 79,474 people vote in the Sept. 1 primary across 275 precincts, with 1,700 poll workers. Staff answered almost 800 calls with waits under 16 seconds, Chung said.

This time the ballot is the main worry. Officials said it runs three double-sided pages, and that feeding each page into the ballot box takes about 30 seconds, so voting in person will take longer.

Sabino Piemonte, the head assistant registrar of voters, said he has worked in the department 34 years, and this is his first election with a three-card ballot.

Early voting runs two weeks starting Oct. 17, Chung said. Voters can also mail their ballots or use city-operated locked drop boxes, which are in every neighborhood and mapped on the department's website.

Kerry Jordan, the department's new executive director, said it is rebranding its signs and materials with more orange, “so that our materials stand out.” Jordan had been on the job three weeks.

How did Boston get here?

In 2024, multiple precincts lacked enough ballots and voters faced significant delays, Rahsaan Hall, president and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, said in a recorded video. The secretary of the commonwealth then ordered an overhaul and state oversight of the department.

“There have been important improvements since then,” Hall said.

City Councilor Ed Flynn (District 2) said he supports Question 4 but noted the city is “still under the receivership basically of the secretary of state's office.”

Asked when the state order ends, Chung said the department talks with the state regularly: “We plan to hold a very successful election in November and then we will revisit that conversation.” In a later exchange, the deadline was given as the end of the year.

Louijeune asked whether every precinct will get ballots for 100% of registered voters, after a faulty formula contributed to the 2024 shortages. Officials said yes, describing a state-approved process with multiple sign-offs and a packing slip that poll workers check each morning.

What advocates asked for

Brooke Seaman, a staff attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights, said federal Justice Department monitors were seen in Boston during the primary without incident. But Seaman said armed federal agents near a polling place would be illegal.

“Federal government agents, whether ICE, DOJ or the FBI, cannot interfere with the right to vote.”

Seaman urged the city to promote early and mail voting, train poll workers on what to do if federal agents arrive, coordinate with state officials and advocates, and tell voters their rights.

Traci Griffith, director of the racial justice program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, described primary-day problems at polling places in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan. They included few accessible parking spaces, a locked accessible entrance at Codman Square Health Center and signs placed only 10 to 15 feet from entrances.

Griffith recommended signs up to 100 feet away and audits of polling places before elections. Louijeune said the department would work on signage for this election.

Celia Canavan, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, said the annual municipal census is the main reason voters are marked inactive. A bill to separate the two, House Bill 799 and Senate Bill 503, has been sent to study, Canavan said.

The case for Question 4

Canavan said “this ten day deadline that we have is arbitrary.” Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, executive director of MassVOTE and chair of the Question 4 ballot committee, said the measure would help voters who move, miss the deadline or find a registration problem at the polls. “These are people who showed up,” she said.

Crawford said more than 69% of eligible Massachusetts voters favor Election Day registration and blamed “barriers at the statehouse” for the delay.

City Councilor Julia Mejia (at-large) raised the election security concerns critics cite. Canavan said voters would meet the same standards as at any other time, including proof of residency, and must show ID the first time they register.

Alan Tanner, a former voter engagement organizer, identified the Massachusetts Republican Party as the measure's opposition. The record does not include the opponents' arguments in their own words.

Council President Liz Breadon (District 9), a co-sponsor of the resolution, said 70% of Allston-Brighton changes address on Sept. 1. At the Sept. 23 council meeting, where the resolution was filed, she said this year “election day fell on moving day.”

What happens next?

Louijeune said she expected the council to vote on the resolution the following Wednesday, Oct. 7, but the records reviewed for this story do not show whether it did. On Sept. 30, the council adopted a resolution backing a different ballot measure, Question 6, with 12 votes.

Poll worker training began Monday, Oct. 5, and runs into November, officials said; residents can sign up through the department's website. Officials said they are preparing a full budget proposal covering training, outreach, signage, language access and accessibility.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Chung said voters who believe bad actors are trying to keep them from voting should remember that “not voting accomplishes those ends.”