Boston polling stations run out of ballots, more sent via police

Polling stations in some Boston precincts ran out of ballots Tuesday afternoon, with police dispatched to replenish supplies before the polls closed.

"The Elections Department has been working urgently to remedy this through coordinating delivery of additional ballots to precincts with the help of Boston Police and contacting all polling locations to anticipate and prevent further ballot shortages," a city spokesperson said.

The state is not allowed to extend voting hours without a court order, but anyone who was in line by 8 p.m. will still be able to vote.

"Voters in line should not leave their polling places until they vote," Secretary of State spokeswoman Deb O'Malley said.

The affected precincts are in Hyde Park, according to O'Malley, who said the city did not send all of the ballots in its possession to polling locations. She said city election workers were told to send additional ballots and then check in with other precincts in Hyde Park and Roslindale to make sure they were properly supplied. The city also "instructed" poll workers to collect phone numbers for anyone who did not want to wait for ballots to arrive.

The secretary's office said they will be in contact with Boston about the ballot issue on Wednesday, according to O'Malley.

The city posted an apology to voters on X, formerly known as Twitter, early Tuesday evening.

"We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion, and are grateful for the diligent efforts of poll workers throughout the city to ensure that every voter can exercise their right to vote," the message said.

The nonprofit Lawyers for Civil Rights blasted the Secretary of State's office for the shortage, saying it should have pushed to extend voting hours in the affected precincts.

"This colossal planning failure on the part of the Secretary of State’s Office, which is responsible for overseeing elections in Massachusetts, resulted in significant disenfranchisement, particularly in Boston’s communities of color," the group said in a statement. "When alerted to these issues and urged to protect voters by extending voting hours, the Secretary’s Office refused."

Earlier in the day, a precinct in East Boston reported a vote tabulator was not working properly, but people were still able to cast their votes. Ballots in the precinct were hand counted until the tabulator was fixed, according to O'Malley.