Boston City Council Demands Probe of Election Day Ballot Shortage Across City

BOSTON -- November 6, 2024, Boston City Council unanimously approved death benefits for the widow of firefighter Matthew Troy and opened an investigation into citywide Election Day ballot shortages at its November 6 session. The council voted 13-0 to pass Docket 1202, a home rule petition granting Rachel Marie Troy the benefits she would have received automatically had her husband, who joined the Boston Fire Department in 2018 after serving in the Marines and died of stage 4 cancer at age 32, been diagnosed just five months earlier. Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, Councilor Enrique J. Pepén, and Councilor Erin J. Murphy filed emergency hearing orders after ballot shortages left polling stations in Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, South Boston, Mattapan, Charlestown, and other neighborhoods unable to serve voters for hours on November 5; Councilor Edward M. Flynn called the failures "a complete failure" and said Secretary of State William Galvin had already opened an investigation after sending the city 766,000 ballots before Election Day. The council also passed 10-1-2 a site-specific park-frontage ordinance clearing a path for a 400-unit housing development at Two Charles Gate West in the Fenway, and referred Councilor Julia M. Mejia's home rule petition to reinstate an elected Boston School Committee to the Committee on Government Operations.