Boston Council Probes Election Day Ballot Shortages, Eyes Early Voting Changes for 2025

BOSTON — December 6, 2024 — Boston City Council grills election officials over November 5 ballot shortages at 14 precincts. Council President Ruthzee Louijeune convened a Friday Committee of the Whole hearing on three dockets tied to the 2024 election failures and 2025 election planning, with Head Assistant Registrar Sabino Pamadi accepting full personal responsibility for a double-subtraction formula error that caused ballot shortages across Hyde Park, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, Dorchester, and the South End on Election Day. The Elections Department received more than 15,000 calls that day as voting-machine jams and ballot crises hit simultaneously, overwhelming a 54-volunteer phone bank. Pamadi said the fix is to send ballots equal to 100 percent of registered voters to every precinct going forward, eliminating the percentage-based formula. Councillor Edward M. Flynn separately flagged that Cathedral High School in the South End had no functional lighting at 5 p.m., forcing seniors and people with disabilities to read ballots by cellphone flashlight. The council also advanced — without yet voting — an administration order to set the 2025 preliminary municipal election for September 9 and authorize in-person early voting, with officials warning that any delay compresses general-election ballot preparation to as little as three weeks.