Boston ballot mess under investigation by Massachusetts Secretary of State

Secretary of State William Galvin opened an investigation into the Boston Election Department after multiple polling locations throughout the city were not provided a “sufficient number” of ballots for the election on Tuesday.

A Wednesday letter to Boston Election Commissioner Eneida Tavares from Galvin comes after a shortage of ballots in the state’s largest city led to last-minute chaos and a directive to Boston police to rush ballots to multiple polling locations so residents could cast their votes.

Galvin said his office and Boston election officials confirmed that “numerous polling locations” were not provided enough ballots despite the fact that 766,200 ballots had been printed and delivered to the city.

Along with complaints from residents, election officials stationed in individual precincts contacted Galvin’s office to report the shortages and indicate they were unable to contact the Boston Election Commission.

“This indicates that the City did not originally deliver an appropriate supply of ballots to precincts in Boston, did not have adequate communication channels with the polling places, and had no plan to deliver additional ballots as needed, and in a timely manner,” Galvin’s letter said.

The locations, according to Galvin, ultimately received the ballots but voters were subjected to “to unreasonable and unnecessary delays in exercising their franchise.”

“This is unacceptable and contravenes the most fundamental principles of our democratic process,” Galvin wrote in his letter.

Galvin has the authority to investigate election-related complaints and order local election officials to comply with state law “in appropriate cases and to pursue enforcement and remediation.”

Galvin said he was opening an “immediate immediate investigation into the practices and procedures of the Boston Elections Department” leading up to and including the state election on Tuesday.

This is a developing story…

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