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Bostonians voting in large numbers; some polling places run out of ballots
By adamg on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 7:04pm
Once people in the line outside the Bates got in, they got to stand in another line. Photo by Jessica Burko.
Update: At 7:36 p.m., the Boston Election Department reported that several precincts across the city had run out of ballots. Department said anybody in line at 8 would be allowed to vote.
Around 5:10 p.m., voting came to a halt at ward 18, precinct 10 at the Bates School in Roslindale: Poll workers had run out of ballots to give to voters.
More ballots showed up around 15 minutes later - but only 50, even as the line outside the school continued to grow.
Nearby, at the Conley School, workers put out little cones through the school play yard to mark off the line to get in - at a polling place that rarely see any lines at all. But even with the long two-page ballot, the line moved quickly.
Polling places across the city saw heavy turnout throughout the day.
By 7 p.m., 1,000 people had voted in ward 17, precinct 12 at the Taylor School in Mattapan - compared to 739 people total in the last election. And there was a long line.
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Comments
Bates or Conley???
These are two different locations!
Bates!
I will never NOT get those two mixed up.
18/10 is the Bates
18/10 is Bates not Conley
Cristo Rey in Savin Hill ran
Cristo Rey in Savin Hill ran out too around 6:30. I got one of the last ones. More were coming by police escort according to the neighbors.
Long two page ballot indeed!
After I did the candidate voting and then questions 1 and 2 (all on page one), I realized I'd better vote in numeric sequence of the questions so I didn't miss any.
And thank heaven the worker handing over the ballots was warning everyone that there are six questions! I had reviewed them this morning and none of the web sites I visited mentioned a 6th question! The other worker at the table also didn't know about the 6th question as she had just arrived.
The 6th question people must have just made the cut off to get the ballots to the printer.Edited to add research: MassCare put a 6th non-binding question on the ballot for 11 districts. https://masscare.org/ballot-question-2024/
Quote: “Shall the representative for this district be instructed to vote for legislation to create a single-payer system of universal health care that provides all Massachusetts residents with comprehensive health care coverage including the freedom to choose doctors and other health care professionals, facilities, and services and eliminates the role of insurance companies in health care by creating an insurance trust fund that is publicly administered?” quote from this link: https://www.westernmassnews.com/2024/11/05/sixth-ballot-questions-causes... /
Wait, what? What was the 6th
Wait, what? What was the 6th question?
6th question?
Was the sixth question a Boston question rather than state?
My 6th question was state rep
My 6th question was state rep specific. Single payer medical insurance, yes or no.
There were five statewide questions
Any additional ones were specific to your city or town. For instance, Somerville voted on whether to increase the Community Preservation Act property tax surcharge.
Save the trees!
Save the trees!
Office of Election Process
Office of Election Process Sustainability and Extendability (OEPSE)
Run out of Ballots
How does that happen? Conducting elections is a basic city function. There is an entire department dedicated to doing so.
This is another example of ineptness on Mayor Wu and her administration.
Have a great evening one and all!
Uh-oh. Another Trumpist.
Uh-oh. Another Trumpist.
I remember Boston running out
I remember Boston running out of ballots in 2006 at some precincts, causing the DOJ to put the entire Election Department under extra scrutiny.
Here's the weird thing at the Conley
There are two precincts voting there, which admittedly is not weird at all. There's ward 18, precinct 9 and ward 18, precinct 22. The latter votes in the first room, while the former votes in a hallway behind that room. For some reason, there's always a line for 18/22, but none for 18/9. I'm a resident of 18/9, so if feels like I'm a VIP to be whisked to the back.
It's always like this, to some extent. I did morning voting in 2020, and naturally the socially distancing line was long, but even in less involved races, there's always at least a short line at 18/22 but no waiting at 18/9. Maybe they need more of those divided voting stands.
Philbrick School, Roslindale had the wrong ballots
I accompanied my neighbor to the Philbrick School in Rozzie after work (around 6:30) and she couldn't vote bc they had the wrong ballots (for a different precinct or ward?) and no idea when the right ones would be delivered. I saw at least 3 people leave bc they couldn't wait any longer.
For a state with so much intelligence
Why are they still using paper ballots?!
What would you suggest instead?
Machine-counted paper ballots are pretty standard these days. They can be hand-recounted if necessary.
A digital voting interface and prints the results to
Be fed into a counter. A lot of states have this technology and can also be hand counted, if necessary, too.
Can the voter verify the
Can the voter verify the printout was faithful to the touch-screen inputs (votes) and call over an election worker if an error is found on the paper and rectify? Paper ballots are the bedrock.
Least worst option
Digital voting machines are much more subject to interference.
Simple can be best
Paper doesn't require electricity, it doesn't require updates to hardware, software, firmware, etc.
You can hand a paper ballot and pen to a large number of people and they can all mark their votes simultaneously and then feed them into a fast tabulation machine with very little waiting time. If you rely on an electronic ballot, you can only have the number of ballot machines worth of voters marking their choices at one time. This creates a bottleneck.
Elections happen regularly but not constantly. In a busy year, most municipalities might have 3 or 4 elections between primary, general, maybe a special local election, in one year. The more you rely on additional electronic devices, the more devices that need to be maintained and updated for very little actual usage time.
Electronic devices require power. When I've voted, most polling locations have the ballot machine near the exit, close to a wall where there is power. It tends to be in an auditorium or school gymnasium. If you have to have electronic ballot machines spread throughout a school gym, now you have to run power to all of those machines. That's additional equipment to maintain, and additional labor to set up.
Security Nightmare
Just reading about the 2008, 2016, and the 2020 elections and all the problems electronic voting machines have in terms of security is enough to make me say a 'hard no' on them.
I also work in tech and the longer I am in this industry, the less I want "Tech" in every day life. Been around this block enough to see products get pushed out with bugs.. or systems go unpatched for years. All of which can cause problems in the end.
Not sure electronic voting machines is the best way to go. Paper is just plain old better.
Paper ballots are their own
Paper ballots are their own first-level backup.
This is so Boston. James
This is so Boston. James Michael Curley is looking up and smiling.
My god
Some of you people are just not happy unless you're pissing in a punchbowl.