Boston votes Tuesday: 39,000 ballots already cast, federal monitors coming, and when to expect results

Boston voters go to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 3, for a state election with a long ballot: governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, the Legislature and nine statewide questions. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Here is what the city's Election Department says to expect, what has changed this week, and where the council stands on how Boston runs its elections.

By the numbers

From the Election Department's Oct. 29 reminders:

• 443,178 registered voters in 275 precincts, served by more than 2,002 trained poll workers.
• 10,083 people had voted early in person as of Oct. 26.
• 69,759 mail and absentee ballots had been sent out, and 29,269 had come back as of Oct. 25.
• 39,352 total early and mail ballots, roughly 9% of registered voters, before the last week of early voting.
• 483 or more poll workers can help in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean, Russian or Portuguese. Every polling place is wheelchair accessible and has an accessible voting machine.

What to know before you go

• The ballot is three double-sided cards. Feed each card into the tabulator separately and wait for it to say "system ready" before the next one, the department says. State election officials have warned that this will slow lines.
• Drop boxes close briefly this weekend. The city's 22 drop boxes may close as early as 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, and reopen by 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1. They take ballots until 8 p.m. Tuesday. You can also return a ballot to the Election Department in City Hall, Room 241.
• Don't bring a mail ballot to the polls. Ballots cannot be returned at polling places on Election Day. If the state's Track My Ballot site shows no movement, the city says to vote in person at your precinct.
• Late mail ballots. Ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 count if they arrive by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6.
• Secretary of State Bill Galvin urged voters still holding mail ballots to use drop boxes rather than the mail, the Dorchester Reporter reported.

When results come in

Unofficial results start after 8 p.m., but uploads may not begin until 10 p.m., the city says. Election-night totals will include in-person and early and mail ballots, but not ballots hand-counted at precincts after closing or on-time mail ballots that arrive too late to send to polling places. Precinct-level unofficial results are expected by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4.

Federal monitors

The U.S. Justice Department will send poll monitors to Boston and Lowell, WBUR reported. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon called the department's plan to send 1,000 observers nationwide its largest monitoring effort ever. Galvin said the monitors will check language services and access for voters with disabilities, and that anyone may observe but no one may interfere. "It's nothing new," he told WBUR, though he said the current administration's actions made residents' wariness understandable.

The city's media rules let observers and press watch from behind the guardrail but not talk to voters inside the polling place. Exit interviews are allowed outside, within 150 feet.

What our records add

The council has split over election rules all year:

• Aug. 26: City Councilor Ed Flynn's resolution supporting a state investigation into incorrect early-voting ballots, and keeping the Election Department under state receivership through 2028, failed 2-7 (docket 1616).
• Sept. 16: Flynn's request for information on voter registration and Election Day procedures failed 4-5, with four members voting present (docket 1719). FitzGerald, Flynn, Murphy and Worrell voted yes. Breadon, Coletta Zapata, Louijeune, Pepén and Weber voted no. Culpepper, Durkan, Mejia and Santana voted present.
• Oct. 7: A resolution backing Question 4, Election Day voter registration, passed 12-0 (docket 1805).
• Oct. 21: The council voted 10-3 to close its own offices on Election Day (docket 1975; our story).

At an Oct. 2 committee hearing, city election officials said they planned to revisit the end of state oversight after this election (our story). The Board of Election Commissioners meets at 5 p.m. today, Oct. 30, online.

What's next

Early voting ends at 5 p.m. today at City Hall. The council's next regular meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 4, at noon, the day after the election. Find your polling place through the Election Department.