Officials offer explanation for ballot shortages

The city has begun a full audit into the delays from ballot shortages at polling locations on Election Day.

Boston’s Elections Department says an initial review into the ballot shortages on Election Day suggests there was an error in the formulas used to schedule the ballot deliveries.

On Wednesday, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin opened an investigation into the city’s administration of the Nov. 5 election.

The investigation aimed to evaluate the “practices and procedures” of the Boston Elections Department “leading up to and including the State Election,” Galvin wrote in a letter to Boston Election Commissioner Eneida Tavares.

Galvin’s office concluded that several polling locations around Boston did not have an adequate number of ballots, despite the office having printed and delivered 766,200 ballots to the city, according to the letter.

Galvin said voters and election officials were unable to contact the Boston Election Commission to report the issues.

To address the shortage, the city mobilized the Boston Police Department to deliver ballots “as quickly as possible” to polling locations, the Elections Department said.

Story continues

TRENDING NOW

LATEST LOCAL NEWS