Not less than one among Boston’s polling areas has run into challenges on Preliminary Day, whereas a spokesperson for the Secretary of the Commonwealth says the difficulty has been resolved.
A tabulator at Boston Baptist Faculty in Hyde Park broke down this morning, with voters being directed to put their ballots right into a aspect compartment, Secretary of the Commonwealth Invoice Galvin spokesperson Debra O’Malley instructed the Herald this afternoon round 12:15.
The tabulator was “not working properly,” O’Malley mentioned, however the Boston Elections Division responded to the polling place inside 10 minutes and switched out the machine. Votes solid throughout that 10-minute window will probably be hand-counted on the finish of the evening, she mentioned.
“Everything should be running smoothly now,” O’Malley mentioned. “They switched out the machine with one that had been a backup and tested. I haven’t heard of any other issues since.”
Galvin’s spokesperson mentioned the difficulty is just not associated with town’s administration of the preliminary.
“Tabulator issues are routine,” she mentioned. “They arrive up, sadly, once in a while due to poll jams or simply technical points.
As of midday, 11.62% of metropolis voters solid ballots.
The Boston Elections Division has been underneath state receivership since final February after a number of polling locations ran out of ballots in final yr’s presidential election, resulting in widespread voting delays and Galvin bashing town for its “incompetence.”
In that occasion, town was supplied sufficient ballots by the state, however polling locations have been nonetheless left brief, resulting in last-minute election evening chaos and a directive from Galvin’s workplace to Boston Police to hurry ballots to these precincts.
“A large part of the overhaul under the receivership has been reforming those communications and processes,” O’Malley mentioned, “to make sure voters and poll workers can get through (to the city) when they need to.”
“So far, that is going very well,” she mentioned of the communication on Tuesday. “Also, there are enough ballots for every registered voter at all polling places plus extras in case of mistakes.”
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