City Council - Census, Redistricting, and Elections Committee Hearing on Dockets #0183 and #1805

Thank you for coming. Good to see you again.

It must not have been as fun.

Good morning everyone, happy Friday. For the record my name is Ruthie Louis-Jeanne at large city councillor and I am the chair of the Boston City Council Committee on Census Redistricting and Elections today is October 2nd 2026 and the exact time is 10.07 AM. This hearing is being recorded. It is also being livestreamed at boston.gov forward slash city dash council dash tv and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82, Fios Channel 964 Our written comments may be sent to the committee email at ccc.censusatboston.gov and will be made a part of the record and available to all Councillors. Public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing. Individuals will be called on in the order in which they signed up and will have two minutes to testify. If you are interested in testifying in person, please add your name to the sign-up sheet near the entrance of the chamber. If you are looking to testify virtually, please email our Central Staff Liaison

Shane Pack at shane.pack at boston.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list. Today's hearing is on docket number 0183, order for a hearing regarding voter accessibility in election preparedness. This matter is sponsored by myself and Councilor Enrique J. Pepen and was referred to the committee on January 28, 2026. This also includes docket number 1805, resolution in support of question four to establish election day voter registration in Massachusetts. This matter was sponsored by myself and Council President Liz Breadon, and was referred to the committee on September 23rd, 2026. Today I'm joined by my colleagues in order of arrival, Councillor Flynn. I want to thank everyone for being here. That is a topic that is sincerely important to upholding our democracy and that's making sure that voting is accessible, and that we're prepared as a city when election time comes around. And that we are making sure we're doing everything we can Thank you for joining us.

It is deeply important to me to make sure that we are making sure that residents around the city can access voting. Voting isn't going to solve all of our problems, but it is definitely part of the solution So I want to thank all of you for being here, for the advocacy that you do. In addition to talking about general election preparedness and what the city of Boston can be doing better to prepare for elections or draw people out for elections, do the everyday work of democracy I also want to make sure that we are talking about question four, which is election day voter registration. Which many of you advocates have been fighting for quite some time. We are behind when it comes to states who have We know that same-day voter registration, we need to make sure that we're doing everything we can to make democracy more accessible to those who are transient. We know voters of color participation increases when we have election day voter registration for this conversation. I'm excited for others to learn of your advocacy.

I am excited later to hear from the administration, and I want to thank our own alum of the City Council Chamber, Kerry Jordan for his new role leading the work of the Elections Department. So excited to hear from the administration and the reason why we wanted to have an advocate panel go first because I do think that they're can sometimes be more of a feedback loop between hearing from what the advocates say, what we could be doing better and having the administration sort of respond to that and bring you into the conversation that way. So I really appreciate your leadership. Sabino, really appreciate uh your leadership as well Commissioner, I know that you've been doing yeoman's work trying to both continue doing city records and also your hands here. So really appreciate the work that you have See Natalia, right? Natalia here. So thank you for your work. Looking forward to this conversation. I am going to pass it off to my colleague if he has any opening remarks.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to say thank you to the administration team for being here. I wanna say, thank you, to the panelists for the important work you're doing as well. Had an opportunity to work with Cheryl for many years and respect the work You and your team and volunteers are doing. I was at an event last night, the Jeremiah Program in the South End We went through every ballot initiative, eight of them I guess. Russell Holmes and myself we talked about them for almost two hours to a group of people that mostly single mothers They were asking questions and I think Russell did an exceptional job explaining each of them in detail. I support question four, but I also know that

The City of Boston Election Department is currently under state receivership during the most important presidential election, 2024. We didn't have enough ballots to reach many polling locations in the city of Boston. We're still under the receivership, basically, of the Secretary of State's office. I'm gonna stop there, I'm going to listen to the advocates. I do apologize, I am going to a VA, it's related to a childcare-related issue in Jamaica Plain but I am leaving early I will be watching the video later on this weekend. Thank you Madam Chair.

Thank You Councillor and I too was at the event last night at Jeremiah program want to thank Allison and all the incredible black women who do incredible work to make sure that civic engagement is centered here in our city. So I want to say thank you to this incredible panel, we'll kick it off with five minutes of testimony from each of you. We have Tracy from the ACLU here and then we have a video from Rahsaan Over at the Urban League. So thank you so much. We'll kick it off in order before us and we will start with you, Brooke. We have Brooke Simone here, a staff attorney Lawyers for Civil Rights. We have Celia Canavan here, Executive Director, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts. Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, Executive director at MassVote Tracy Griffith, Director of the Racial Justice Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts and Rahsaan Hall here via Pre-made video from the Urban League of Massachusetts. So we're going to start with you, Celia, with you Brooke.

You have the floor in five minutes or however long you need for an opening. Thank you.

Good morning. And thank you, Councillor Louijeune, Councillor Pepén, Councillor President Breadon for calling attention to these issues and for inviting me to be here today. I also want to say thank you to Councillor Flynn for being here My name is Brooke Simone and I'm an attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights. All of us here in this room share a goal, which is to ensure that every eligible voter who wants to cast a ballot can do so. And they can do without fear and without intimidation and obstacles. So I'm going to talk a little bit about what is needed to make that happen. A critical piece of that is the election protection program, which is a national nonpartisan and volunteer poll observer program. At Lawyers for Civil Rights, we are proud to be part of the coalition that runs this program in Massachusetts along with other partners here and those on the recordings as well.

During the primary, we saw some confusion among poll workers about what these volunteers are allowed to do. So I just want to take some time to clarify. They are trained and authorized to observe inside polling locations, whether that's to frequently check in to observe particular irregularities that arise. And because they are entirely nonpartisan, they're authorized to engage with voters outside of the polling locations but within the 150 foot electioneering zone Our volunteers are present to answer questions from voters like, is an ID required? What if they tell me I need an ID? Can a friend help me vote? The volunteers also escalate problems that need troubleshooting or legal support, and part of this is steering voters to call the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline where Group of lawyers are also standing by to provide support.

Now, this hotline is always open. It will be open during early voting and on election day. We will have poll observers throughout Boston's precincts on Election Day as well and our team at Lawyers for Civil Rights will be ready to respond to whatever challenges arise. Now, every election we expect to see certain logistical and administrative issues. A lot of these arose due During the primary, we saw some of these standard problems like the registration deadline keeping eligible people from voting. And that's why we support question four on election day registration. There were also a large number of voters who were listed as inactive simply because they didn't return the census form. Unfortunately, always issues around accessibility of polling places and that is something that the election protection program can step in to assist with as well.

In the past, as Councillor Flynn mentioned, Boston voters have faced long lines and ballot shortages. particularly in communities of color and low-income communities. We are very encouraged by the new leadership in Boston's election department, and we know that the executive director Jordan shares our hope that these issues don't happen again So we want to say welcome and we are happy to be in open communication with the new leadership team. Now along with some of these more typical concerns, these administrative or So to be direct, that would Federal government agents whether ICE, DOJ or the FBI cannot interfere with the right to vote. They can not intimidate or threaten voters which can occur

Due to simply their presence alone and even more pointedly armed federal officials cannot be at a polling place. So what that means is if ICE officers are stationed near a school or community center that is used as a polling place, that is illegal. Their presence of course would present dangers of aggressive tactics, of detention, of deportation but the threat really extends much further than that. So many Bostonians are living in constant fear of immigration enforcement, and that includes people who are citizens and eligible to vote. So I'm talking about foreign-born naturalized citizens People in mixed status households and people of color. For a lot of those eligible voters, if they hear that ICE may be near their polling place some of them will simply stay home

and that means they are losing their right to vote, and that is unacceptable. So at Lawyers for Civil Rights, we are responding on two fronts. We are educating the communities most vulnerable to ICE about their rights and what to do if a federal officer is near a polling place We are also ready to go to court the moment that unlawful government activity threatens the communities we work with. So we are ready to step in and our partners here are certainly ready as well, but it is also important that the City of Boston be ready too. And so I would urge the city to do four things. First, promote early voting and mail voting so that no voter has to depend on one day in one location. Second, train wardens, inspectors and other poll workers on the laws that apply and what to do if federal agents show up to a polling place.

Third, coordinate and communicate beforehand with state officials and groups like Lawyers for Civil Rights, and other folks on this panel. And fourth, communicate accurately with Boston voters They need to know their rights at the polls and what might stand in their way. But just as importantly, they need to that their city, their home, and legal and advocacy groups stand with them and are ready to protect their right to vote. I'm excited and hopeful to work together to ensure that no one is prevented from exercising that right. Thank you again for the opportunity to be here, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you so much, Celia. And we've also been joined by Council President Liz Breadon.

Thank you so much Madam Chair, Councilor Paxton, Breadon, Councillor Flynn and the rest of the City Council for the invitation and for your continued support of elections and voting. My name is Celia Canavan. I am proud to serve as the executive director for League of Women Voters of Massachusetts. We serve 155 communities across the Commonwealth and are proudly represented here with the League of Woman Votors of Boston in 44 local leagues with over 3,000 members. I would also like to thank and welcome the new election administration leadership. I look forward to getting to work with you and connecting with our local league here as well, to continue to protect and serve the voters in Boston The League of Women Voters is founded on two founding principles, empowering voters and defending democracy.

and we do this through a wraparound approach both through voter services, voter registration and voter education as well as advocacy on issues such as question four and election day registration. A fight that we are proud to have been a part of with our partners for years upon years on Beacon Hill and are now happy to bring it to the ballot box. The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts has been working around the clock this election cycle given the continued federal threats to our elections. To make sure that voters across the Commonwealth have the services and trust that they need to make an informed decision at the ballot box. I'll start my remarks today with some of our voter education work and then i'll be happy to go into our work on yes on for election day registration, on which we are proud to serve on the ballot question committee alongside Cheryl and many of her other great partners. At the start of this year, we were humbled and proud to serve as one of the lead plaintiffs in

League of Women Voters of Massachusetts versus Trump, which is a hallmark case to protect mail-in voting not only in Massachusetts but across the nation. We are proud that through this work we have been able to continue to uphold an injunction that has allowed for mail-in ballots to be delivered to voters Again, not only in the Commonwealth but across the nation and stops personal voter data from being shared among states to the federal government. This is something that we have not been able to do alone, and I would like to especially shout out Tracy and the ACLU for their continued partnership with us on this work. but we know that this does not stop there so we've continued this work through continuing to allow voters to know that mail-in voting has always been a safe and secure method of voting and something they can continue to trust and use Here in Massachusetts, something that we are proud to have continued to have fought for not only in 2026 but all the way back to 2022 when we were able to get no excuse mail-in voting.

We continue this work here in Massachusetts through partnerships. We are incredibly proud to have over 100 nonprofit partners throughout the state, and here in Boston we've continued to expand that work This year our team, which I would like to also add was led by two incredible students here in Boston. We're able to collaborate with every non-partisan campus organization in Boston colleges to provide wraparound voter education toolkits and services so they can inform other students to have A more informed electorate coming into Boston this year. This has included our online vote411.org online voter guide. This is a nonpartisan guide that combines not only information about candidates and ballot questions with information regarding voter registration, local ordinances, and anything relevant to a voter registration voter engagement and casting your ballot each election cycle.

Gall. In 2024, Vote 411 got $192,000, I wish, thousand visits from voters across the Commonwealth and we expect similar numbers this year given and many more. We've also partnered with Boston businesses and community Action Guides so that way voters are able to get this information easily, accessibly in places they already occupy. This has included places such as the Boston Public Library, Porter Square Books and other places where people are already attending and simply just need access to this critical information. We've also continued to run our traditional programming, such as candidate forums. We're proud to have served Boston as the only organization to get both Congressman Stephen Lynch and then-candidate Patrick Roth

to a candidate's forum together and present that in collaboration with local leagues within Congressional District 8. and Boston to make sure voters were able to make an informed decision on election day. We continue to run these programs throughout the state, and are proud to also be working in partnership on the Election Protection Task Force and as well with a poll worker recruitment program Regardless of the municipality we're in, we encourage all of our members to choose one of those two options. Be a nonpartisan poll observer or join your election administrators as a poll worker and we are proud to continue to push people in that direction. We also have on our website, which we continue to push to members and the public alike are election 2026 resources. Which include direct voter registration, ballot tracking, an accessible copy of The Red Book

and then uplifting some of our partners' information such as the ACLU's Know Your Voting Rights Guide to make sure that we get as much visibility as possible to great work going on in community. We are so proud of this election and voter services work that we do, but we know that this is only one part of our continued advocacy which is why the vote yes on for election day registration committee has been such proud work of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts. Election Day registration is a common sense voting rights reform. It is something that Massachusetts is long overdue to join 23 states and the District of Columbia in enacting. It's important to remember that this 10-day deadline that we have is arbitrary, and that we know from surveys in Massachusetts and real-life experiences in other states, these deadlines suppress the right to vote.

People are often so busy with their day-to-day responsibilities that they don't clue in to important issues on the ballot until the week before an election when they're receiving mailers, ads, people knocking on their doorstep and by then it is already too late to register in Massachusetts. Importantly, Question 4 does not stand to just benefit new voters. It also allows us to welcome in voters who may have experienced some form of clerical error or administrative issue within their voter registration and did not have the time to get away from their work or life responsibilities to amend that issue. They may have moved, changed their name had a middle initial left off and these can all be barriers to their simple right to vote We know that this does not create chaos at the polls. This does not creates additional barriers for election administrators in these 23 other states, some states have had Election Day registration or a version of same day voter registration for over 50 years

and have not seen any evidence of fraud, any increased costs or any further issues related to administration. We also know that this does not add any further burden on election administrators and we are proud to say that the version that we have here in Massachusetts proposed in front of us allows for a one-year Delayed implementation. This would not be implemented until 2028, allowing us to have further training and education for election administrators and election workers prior to implementation. All around, we know that Election Day registration is something that stands to only benefit Massachusetts. It does not stand to benefit either party in specific. Any voter at any time regardless of their political party I myself have benefited from Election Day registration as a voter in Maine before moving back to Massachusetts.

and once moving back to Massachusetts experienced what happens when you don't have election day registration. When I was unable to register to vote three days after moving home, three days Thankfully, I am so glad to have been able to vote this year and the years since. But this is something that sticks with me as I think of all the other students moving home students who have moved forward, and the rest of the Commonwealth who simply needs that right to vote and does not know if they'll be able to. So I want to thank you again, Councilor Louijeune and Council President Breadon for your bringing that resolution forward. And hope that we can get more support for Yes on 4 in that common sense reform.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Celia. We now move on to Cheryl Clyburn-Crawford. I said the executive director of MassVote, but hold on y'all. It's also the chair of the Yes or No for Ballot Committee. And hold on. Executive committee second vice president? Okay, Executive Committee of the NAACP Boston branch here. So thank you so much for being with us. Cheryl, you have the floor.

Great, good morning everyone. Good morning Madam Chair, members of this committee, distinguished legislators and congratulations. Hello Sabino. Right. My name is Cheryl Clyburn-Croft, and I'm the Executive Director of MassVote as Councilor Louijeune just said in the chair of the ballot question for committee. Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you today about the work mass voters are doing to prepare Massachusetts voters for the upcoming election, and importantly about Election Day Registration Ballot Initiative. MassVote has spent 25 years to working to make our democracy more accessible, inclusive and participatory. Our work is grounded in simple principle. People should be able to participate In our democracy without unnecessary barriers standing in their way, as we approach November 3rd

Selection, our work is focused on voter education community engagement as well as election day preparedness and making sure people have the information and resources that they need to participate. So what are we doing? In the week sitting up to the election, MassVote has taken our voter education efforts directly into the communities. We are disseminating educational literature about Question 4, Election Day registration, making sure voters understand what the question is about and what it would mean for eligible voters. We are conducting phone banks to reach voters directly and provide information about the election in question four. We are tabling at community events, and in neighborhoods creating opportunities for voters to ask questions and receive information face to face. We are also hosting a community forum, to provide voters with the opportunity to learn about EDR

Election Day registration and engage in a broader conversation about access to the ballot. And importantly, we are recruiting and preparing volunteers to support our election protection program on Election Day. Election protection is an important part of this work, as you've already heard. The education doesn't end when the polls open. We want to have trained people available to help identify and respond All of these problems voters may encounter at the polls and to make sure voters understand their rights and the process. Our goal is to have people in communities before election day, People at tables, people at forums and trained volunteers prepared to respond on election day. That is what voter engagement looks like in practice, along with our community partners. But our work is not simply about getting information into people's hands

It is about making sure that the information reaches people through organizations and individuals they know and trust. Hence, the partnership we have across the state with grassroots base building organizations. That is particularly important for voters who may face greater barriers to participation. Young voters, first-time voters, voters who have recently moved and people who may not regularly engage with the political process Election Day Registration. And that is what brings me to that. MassVote has been advocating for election day registration since I came to MassVOTE as an organizer in 2008. For nearly two decades, we have heard from voters who encounter registration barriers at precisely the moment they are trying to exercise their right to vote. Sometimes a person has moved and their registration information has not been updated

Sometimes a young person becomes eligible to vote but misses the registration deadline. Sometimes a voter believes they are registered and only discovers the problem when they arrive at the polling location. These are not necessarily people who decided not to participate, These are people who showed up, and that distraction matters. There's a real distinction there. Question four would create a process for an eligible voter to register or update their voter registration address at their polling Location on Election Day. The proposed process includes requirements to establish residency and affirm eligibility. For mass vote, this is fundamentally about lifting a barrier to voting while maintaining the integrity of the election process. Our responsibility between now and November is to educate voters about what is on the ballot, including question four.

And to make sure communities understand the voting process. But I also want to emphasize something the members of this committee. Voter education cannot solve every barrier We can tell someone the registration deadline. We can remind them to check their registration. We help them understand where to vote, But if someone misses a deadline, moves unexpectedly or discovers the registration problem when they arrive at the polls, information alone cannot fix that problem. That is where Election Day registration can make a difference. MassVote believes that Massachusetts should continue looking for ways to ensure the eligible citizens can participate in our elections and that our election system reflects the realities of people's lives. People move, people change jobs, young people turn 18, life happens and our democracy should be designed with those realities in mind.

For 25 years, MassFord has worked alongside community partners across the Commonwealth to strengthen civic participation As we prepare for this election, We will continue doing that work, distributing information, making phone calls, tabling in communities, hosting forums, educating voters and mobilizing volunteers for election protection. And we will continue advocating for a system We're an eligible voter who has made the effort to show up and participate as a meaningful opportunity to do so. Because democracy is strongest when eligible voters are not prevented from participating by barriers that can be responsibly removed. Thank you for your time and for your commitment to strengthening democracy in Massachusetts

Thank you. Thank you so much, Cheryl. We'll now turn it over to Tracy. Tracy, you have the floor.

Good morning, everyone. My name is Tracy Griffith. I'm here to testify on behalf of the ACLU of Massachusetts where I direct the racial justice program And we're here supporting the Boston City Council's Committee on Census Redistricting and Elections, particularly docket number 0183 regarding voter accessibility and election preparedness. As is the intention of this committee, we at the ACLU of Massachusetts are seeking to remove barriers that prevent qualified voters from participating in elections and having their votes counted. And I will speak today very specifically about issues encountered during the recent primary election that we feel need to be addressed to ensure the November 3rd general election is accessible to all voters in the city of Boston.

The ACLU of Massachusetts is proud to be a part of the election protection program and our many partners who are participating in this hearing today. As a part of the EP program, we conducted site visits and assisted in volunteer support and coordination at polling places in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and a variety of other places around the Commonwealth. Our role was to observe any issues or discrepancies that could prevent or discourage a registered voter from voting in the 2026 Massachusetts primary election. The most prevalent issues observed during our work on primary election day were related to signage and accessibility. Issues with accessibility at polling locations in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan were the most consistent and glaring problem observed on primary day.

Many locations had little to no ADA-designated parking spaces. And when asked why this was the case, answers ranged from not knowing the parking space had to be provided to the fact that very few voters at the polling location needed such accommodation. That is not the standard. At Orchard Park Community Center, the sign designated the parking spot was so faded that it was difficult to initially assess whether it meant for ADA users. It was also the only space provided. There was also an issue of multiple sites that had heavy doors with no automated door opening function. Although this may not be a requirement, It certainly would make it more accessible, although they did have compliant handles on those doors.

At one location, the Great Hall at Codman Square Health Center, signs that directed toward an ADA accessible entrance took you around the building then up a steep hill leading to a door that was locked. You were forced to go through the main entrance, which had five steep steps with no railing. At least that door was propped open. All of their locations did have AutoMark machines and poll workers understood how to use them. So that was a good thing. But accessibility at the Higginson Lewis K-8 school was virtually impossible. This was in large part due to the schools still being open and having their professional development day on the same day as the primary, meaning that the presence of teachers and parents and other professionals left almost no parking available for anyone, and the ADA spots in the parking lot and on the street were therefore taken.

The next issue, second biggest challenge voters faced on primary day was signage. This was also an issue at almost every location especially those with multiple open entrances Multiple sites reported voters being confused about how to find the main entrance to polling location. The only locations observed where signage was adequate had one entrance, making it easier to direct voters. Signs often only extended about 10 to 15 feet from the entrance, meaning if you parked or approached from a different direction, as was the case for Higginson Lewis K-8, you were left to close... to get close enough to the main entrance to see your very first sign. You know, one of our recommendations is that signage extend as far as maybe 100 feet from the main entrance with directional signs on all sides of the polling location.

Many signs were also hard to read from a distance and poorly placed around locations. This led to reports of some voters initially being confused about if their ward and precincts were inside the correct polling location. The more prominent signs were prone to collapsing due to being made of paper, and of course it rained on primary morning. These are issues that are quite easily resolved with a little attention to detail, pre-election site audits and a collaborative working partnership with organizations like many of those here that promote election protection and are on the ground the day of election watching for problems such as these. I want to thank Councilors Louijeune and Pepén for bringing us together today, and to continue to make voting accessible for all eligible voters here in Boston. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Tracy. And thank you for laying out some issues that we need to work on. I did see the administration writing down some of the issues. So I think they're taking Some of those to hearts, and that's one of the reasons why we have these hearings. So thank you so much. And lastly, we have a video from Rahsaan Hall, Executive Director of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts that we will play.

Chair Louijeune and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. I'm Rahsaan Hall president and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts For more than two decades, voting rights have been central to my work. I have participated in election protection efforts since 2004 at the Lawyers for Civil Rights I worked on litigation to expand voter registration access under the national voter registration act At the ACLU of Massachusetts, I was involved in litigation challenging Massachusetts voter registration cutoff. I've advocated for fair and representative districts through the Drawing Democracy Coalition During the 2011 and 2021 redistricting efforts through Drawing Democracy Coalition, a process that also included Boston's 2012 redistricting

I've also been a long-time participant in the Election Modernization Coalition, worked through the Mast Counts Coalition to promote a fair and accurate census, and currently serve with Ranked Choice Boston. I offer that background because access to the ballot and competent election administration are inseparable. Docket 0183 appropriately calls for examining ballot planning, poll worker recruitment and training communications accessibility and coordination between municipal and state officials That docket, in light of Boston's recent history demonstrates why that examination matters. In 2024 multiple precincts lacked sufficient ballots Communication systems became overwhelmed and voters experienced significant delays. The Secretary of the Commonwealth subsequently ordered an overhaul of the Elections Department and state oversight through this year.

There have been important improvements since then, including expanded poll worker recruitment training, improved communications and greater coordination with state officials. And those improvements should continue. This is especially important in the current environment where the Department of Justice deployed monitors to Boston and other Massachusetts polling locations during this year's primary. The Department of justice describes this As federal election law monitoring, which has a significant and important historical precedent, which what the Department of Justice recently did does not meet that standard. At the same time, we should be attentive to any actions or messaging that could intimidate or discourage eligible voters. This is not a moment to retreat. It's a moment lean in.

Boston should ensure that election staff, equipment, ballots, language access, accessibility accommodations, communication systems and contingency plans are fully prepared. And the city should continue working closely with the Secretary of the Commonwealth and with the nonprofits and civil society organizations that have long worked to ensure fair, accessible, and efficiently administered elections. Finally, the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts supports Election Day voter registration and the purposes reflected in Docket 1805. The resolution recognizes that Question 4 would allow eligible residents to register or update their addresses at polling places on Election Day, subject to the residency and eligibility safeguards. This docket, the Secretary of the Commonwealth likewise confirms those requirements.

Through the Election and Modernization Coalition, the Urban League has consistently supported same-day registration because we view it as one important piece of a broader mosaic of reforms designed to remove unnecessary barriers and expand participation. Our advocacy has never been about benefiting one neighborhood, one constituency or one political perspective. It is always been about ensuring that every eligible Boston resident can participate that every lawful vote can be cast and counted and that our election system earns the confidence of the people it serves. That has been the work of the Urban League for over 107 years here in the city of Boston and the surrounding area

and we hope to be able to support the work of this committee, the council and the city to ensure that continues to be the case for the rest of the City of Boston and the Commonwealth.

Thank you so much to Rahsaan. Thank you to all of the panelists. We've also been joined by Councilor Weber. I don't know if any of my colleagues were going to put in questions, if you wanted to offer an opening or if we could just go right into questions? OK, thank you. I have also received an absence letter from Councillor Enrique Pepen, Dear Chair Louijeune, Mr. Clerk and Council Colleagues, I regret to inform you that I am unable to attend this morning's committee on Census, redistricting and elections hearing on dockets number 0183 order for a hearing regarding voter accessibility and election preparedness. And 1805 resolution in support of question four As a co-sponsor of Docket 0183, I'm committed to ensuring that our elections are carried out effectively. Every voter should be able to cast their ballot at their polling location no matter the election. With our upcoming state elections it is imperative that the Boston Election Commission has already remedied

Previous ballot printing mishaps trained poll workers to the best of their ability on sign-in technology and clarified any confusion to support Boston's voters to have an experience free of obstacles. I will follow up with any additional questions upon reviewing my staff's notes and watching the recording. Please do not hesitate to contact my staff with any questions So thank you to my colleagues. Thank you again to the advocates, and thank you for uplifting something that I omitted in the beginning, right? The federal government's attempt to intimidate us and our voters in the election process. We know that voting is sacred, and we know that especially in this climate federal government's involvement in anything beyond what is permissible and what is legal creates fear among a lot of communities, and it's completely unnecessary and is detrimental to the work of democracy. So thank you. I know Rahsaan uplifted it, and others as well, so just wanted to

say thank you for reminding us of the climate that we're in and why we need to even double down on being intentional about making democracy accessible to every person. So I'm just going to start off with some questions. I'm going to give myself a total of seven minutes For questions, and my colleagues will have two minutes. No, everyone will have seven minutes for questions. And then if we need to, we'll do a second round this Friday. Bring some levity into this, okay. So my first question it was mentioned and we talked about it and we saw in some jurisdictions During the primary, but there are inactive voters who are removed from the voter rolls. If you could talk a little bit about that? Do we see that in Boston I know that we saw it was We saw it in other jurisdictions. And what is the effort being done on statewide to sort of reverse the trend of removing voters who are deemed to be inactive and why they're deemed inactive from the voting rolls?

So, I mean, I just know that we have legislation that we're trying to advance to decouple that so that we cannot have you not filling out the census in the first place that puts you on that list. But we do have inactive voters and we have a bunch of them. Go ahead.

Yeah, I would just add to that that yes the municipal census we do see as the number one barrier and the reason for inactive Voters to be deemed inactive. Census and the annual street listing tied to voter registration in this way. This is a unique problem to Massachusetts, and unfortunately not something we lead in. We also know that, as Cheryl put very well in her remarks, voter education can only go so far. We continue to remind voters to fill out their annual street listing, but only one is sent per household. Districts. If you're a renter, it can be even more complicated to get your street listing. All it takes is the one person who grabs the mail in your household.

Actually my fiance did this to us where he threw out the street listing I had to fish it out and get that to

And if it's not returned, do all the voters in the household then are deemed? Yes. All the voters from that household are then deemed in practice. I don't believe that in Boston we'd do this. Do we do this to the same extent that we do? We'll talk about it on the next panel.

Yeah, so I would highlight that as the street listing. We have had legislation put forward to decouple the municipal census. We'll continue to fight for that but it is a wraparound approach and voter education can only get us so far if we do not remove that tie to the census

Thank you. I know that this was a major issue in the last municipal election as well and other jurisdictions, so it doesn't have to be at this moment but if someone can name the bill so we could see what this committee can do to be in support, that would be helpful. If anyone has the bill number and status of where it stands, and who filed it, and how we can be supportive.

I can grab that for you in just a second.

Thanks. Brooke, I know you also spoke to this, so I'm not sure if you wanted to...

Sure, I think... I am a Boston resident. I live in Jamaica Plain and I similarly... I recently moved Sort of some of my mail got lost in the shuffle, but we also received the census. and luckily I did fill it out but you know, I think it's important that we focus on decoupling. The issue is prevalent in Boston. There are certainly other municipalities where it was a bigger issue during the primary. There was one polling place in Lawrence where 80% of the voters that showed up were on the inactive list, which is truly remarkable to think that the number was 80%. I don't have specific data for what it looked like at polling places in Boston, in particular.

But I know this is an issue that really affects every corner of the Commonwealth because everyone is getting the same mailings.

Yeah, thank you. I've heard about it from a number of voters, particularly I hear about it Haitian voters in other jurisdictions and so I want to make sure that this is something we can work on like is the Are we at the point where any sort of benefit that we think we're getting from removing people from their roles is completely outweighed by the harm that is happening? And it sounds like that we may be at that tipping point, and then we may have been there for some time. Okay, I'm talking too much so I won't be able to get to my questions. Oh and we've been joined by Councilor-at-Law Julia Mejia thank you for joining us this morning. Wanted to ask As we think about question four and the importance of same-day voter registration, can you talk about what else the city should be doing in order to prepare for

The potential and hopeful implementation of it in 2028 to ensure that, you know, one of the critiques is how do we make sure that people who are eligible to vote are the actual ones voting. So if anyone could speak to that, that would be helpful.

Yeah, and thank you so much, Councillor for bringing it up. Before I get into that, Just find the bill number for the decoupling bill. So it's House Bill 799, Senate Bill 503 presented by Representative Arriaga in the house and Senator Cindy Cream in the senate and it is currently sent to study due to the new rules in the house. The State House. But speaking to the implementation of Election Day registration, we cannot undermine how much the support of the City Council here in Boston would help us with this implementation specifically in helping us identify the ways that we can work better as advocates to support implementation. We know that this has the support of our chief clerk, Secretary Galvin who brought it to the ballot but we also know that is something that takes a lot of care

When we look at the implementation and how best to prepare for it, working directly with Office is always what I highly recommend. They have identified the different ways that HAVA funding can help with the implementation, as well as different ways to educate and train on election day registration. Something I always like to point to as well is that election day registration or some form of same-day registration is actually not quite new to Massachusetts. It's new in the sense of on Election Day, but during the early voting period we do have a day's overlap where our poll workers and our awesome administrators are used to doing any form of voter registration on an election day so I would look to those processes I apologize, I am not a resident of Boston so I can't speak to that here. I would look to our other panelists for that but as far as that, I always look to how are those processes going and cannot be expanded further?

Thank you.

Cheryl? I was just going to say, I've witnessed it happening in New Hampshire. We took a bunch of folk over to New Hampshire to watch election day registration happening. It was seamless. And I would think that because we have it in 23 other states and in Washington, D.C., that we could pull from some of the successes that they've had and implementing EDR. But training in education, it's just what we do anyway is critical as we bring it forward.

Thank you Cheryl. And Tracy I just want to if whenever you want to jump in also Tracy feel free so. I am now going to move on to my colleagues. And if I have more questions so that there'll be a second round, I'll ask the second round. But Council President Breadon you're on the floor.

Thank you. I think this issue with inactive voting It's definitely need to address it. I'm curious, the Lawrence precinct with 80% inactive voters who had to probably take a provisional ballot, Is the current immigration climate impacting? Are folks afraid to return their municipal census?

I can't speak to that specifically, but I do know that folks who come from mixed status households who are individual Individuals of color who are immigrants themselves certainly are a little bit more wary of any type of government mail. And then also, if you're an inactive voter, you have to show an ID and sometimes that It doesn't have to be a photo ID, but still people get a little kind of on edge when they're asked to present a form of identification even if they are an eligible voter. And so I think all of these sort Let's call it just like bureaucratic paperwork for lack of a better term. It definitely stands to chill eligible voters, particularly from these most vulnerable communities.

Thank you.

So same day voter registration really seems like a no-brainer to me, but in these 24 other states I've been doing it Are there particular barriers in Massachusetts that, do we have an exception to the rule? Why is it such a challenge here? Are there particular barriers that people hold up and say we couldn't do?

I think it's called legislators. Just kidding. You said it, not me. No, I think that is a part of it. I came to MassVote as I said in my remarks in 2008 as an organizer to pass EDR. and we've been at it. We've been added, and to your point, Councilor, it is a no-brainer. There are barriers at the Statehouse... I'm just gonna say it. There're barriers at The Statehouse that are preventing this from happening I'm not sure if it's because they don't believe that it works or the things that Initially have not come true or are not true, and now it's a thing of digging in. That's how I feel. Digging in, we're not going to move because... and we have so much. We have over 69% of Massachusetts eligible voters that are in favor of election day registration, so...

So in terms of Who are the folks that are most impacted by the inability to register, same day voter registration?

So it's an across-the-board problem. I always point to anyone in the Commonwealth can become a voter affected by this, At the League, we always point to any married woman. If you get married at the wrong time and change your name at the right time, you are now affected by the lack of election day registration. But where we point to directly as part of this campaign are our renters, working class St. Louis, and many more. either their elections administrators. Access to internet is something that is really important as well, if you're working to try and use public access, if your a late worker You know, libraries closed and you can't get online to register online. So there is a wide variety of people. We point directly to renters in the working class as who this would We'd see the wide margin affecting, but truly it can be anyone at any time that needs Election Day voter registration.

And I just want to make sure we lift up lower income citizens because they tend to move more frequently.

Yeah.

So...

And I'll just add to that. I think this goes to show that it really is, it could be anyone but I think low-income folks who are of working class disproportionately people of color, and they might not have accessible transportation to go. They might not be able to take off of work Thank you for joining us.

Sorry, I never started your time. You have four more minutes. Five, five, five.

So Cheryl, you said you went up to New Hampshire to observe what they did. In terms of their best practices from our neighboring states that are doing this? Are there other best practices that we should try and emulate?

I would think the process was so seamless in New Hampshire that we could look to them. They're one of our neighboring states, to share with us. We literally walked into the polling location and witness people that were not on the list. And they went simply to another line, showed proof of residency, and voted on a real ballot because that matters. Provisional ballots, we already know is a major problem particularly here in Massachusetts and we know that election day registration would eliminate some of that.

And I represent Alston, Brighton. So 70% of the neighborhood changes address on September 1st, which is bad. It's a big problem. So I know one argument that I've heard from and elected official was that, well having same day election day registration prevents them mailing their residents and having a conversation about policy or whatever. Is there an antidote to that or is it a counter-argument for that? You should be talking to everybody regardless, but encouraging people to register ahead of time.

Right, and just do your job all the time. Everybody's going to know what you're doing. We don't have enough people voting in any election if you look at the data in Massachusetts. Thank you Sabino for sending that out Timely. While we're watching live results come in, we know that people are not Voting in one particular area and then going to another area, running campaigns on election day. I wish they would run campaigns on Election Day to get people out to vote. I just think that it's a thing now and it's non-existing. We're good organizers, I must say. But we're not organizing at that level.

So what new responsibilities would fall on municipal elections officials or poll workers to do election day registration? You said it's not an onerous task.

Yeah, I can take that. So it's important to underline that it's not extraneous work that is added to any election administrator. It is a shifting of where certain resources are on Election Day. I know Cheryl has pointed to provisional ballots as the huge problem that they are and we've seen in the 24 states and DC that have and many more. election administrators who are taking on that arduous weeks-long task of verification to focus that on Election Day in getting real ballots into the hands of eligible voters. It's a very small addition to that work, to potentially put resources. We do acknowledge it may take moving maybe some poll workers to more high profile or high yield polling sites

but we really don't see any major increase in the work. It's just moving that provisional ballot work that takes again, Weeks, time, resources, money to verify after election day and allowing it to occur on election day to be counted with our results. I see Tracy.

You're good. You have a minute 30.

So I'm a big proponent. In the constituency, I came from back home in Northern Ireland that was considered a major disaster if voter turnout decreased to 60%. And what's gone wrong? There's good reasons why that was high, but how can we... I feel voting is such a sacred responsibility. It's like serving on a jury and it's been really part of being a citizen and be really engaged I think 80 million people didn't vote in the last presidential election. How can we really work with young people and everybody to get them to be more involved? To actually get out and vote. Like any secret sauce?

I think it's an attack-it from all fronts kind of strategy. It takes us as advocates, it takes you as the trusted messengers to allow people to understand that this is something we are deeply invested in Not only as community members and as voters, but as people who want this next generation to be involved. And I think to your point on these young voters, Council President, You know, we have to invite them into the room and election day registration allows us to do that. Allows us to invite these young people to know that Massachusetts wants them to have this access which we know for student populations, especially in Boston many of them don't have because they're moving and because that's September 1st. The primary day this year, we saw a lot of that. So I think that allowing us to attack from all angles and using what we already know works of voter education but taking these policy angles of election-day registration,

of Census, allows us to send the message that voters need to hear which is that we want to hear their voice and their voice is their power and Massachusetts respects that.

Thank you Madam Chair Thank you. We've also been joined by Councilor Worrell. Councilor Weber, you have the floor in seven minutes.

Okay, thank you very much.

Wait, sorry.

Oh, you're going to start at the clock for me. Yeah.

Sorry.

Seven minutes.

If you need more, we'll come back. Seven minute is pretty generous.

OK. Thank you. Just following up on that last question I don't know who's writing for now. EJ Dionne had a book out, and so on. gets your voter turnout very high. I'm not suggesting that here, but Is there something we can do to incentivize people to go out to vote? I don't know what you think about Australia and that model.

I love that. Yeah. I do, is it called universal voting? Compensatory, something like that. Voting? Compulsory. I like it and the reason we... I think we're not really pushing it hard here from my perspective because things tend to be disproportionately Distributed. So $20 in a community where people can't afford that, versus somebody that makes $200,000 a year and they decide not to vote. $20 is a drop in the bucket. If we could figure out how... I can't remember what country it is, I'm sorry, but they take their license. How about that? that makes it even. You don't vote, you don't have your driver's license so therefore you cannot participate in most things right? But figuring out some way I think everybody's

That should be the thing that you do, is to vote and to speak and to participate in democracy in our communities. Have your voice heard Not too many, too few people are making decisions for all of us because we don't go out to vote. And the question of what else can we do? I mean outside of setting ourselves on fire We're looking for people to really give us suggestions. We're taking it to the streets. We think one-on-one conversations with people really work best, helping people to understand what is at stake for them I think they missed it because they can't see the results of an election. When we're fighting for something and it doesn't pass, Thank you very much.

Yeah, well certainly before we did anything like that we need to make sure we can get people registered and remove the obstacles to voting. But did you have something?

I was just going to add two things. One, kind of adding on to that, Especially with youth, really bringing the impact of their voice and their vote closer to home. I think that it's exciting to cast your ballot for president in these big... I guess what we think of as these bigger, more stakesy elections. But I think at Lawyers for Civil Rights and these organizations as well, we focus a lot on what's local, what's closer to home. Things like your school board election. These people are going to be, that you have the chance to elect are really gonna represent your needs on a day-to-day basis and so I think trying to translate That to youth, to get excited about these more close-to-home issues I think is important.

And then if we want to throw out another sort of pie in the sky idea, I don't think it should be pie in Election Day should be a holiday. That would eliminate so many barriers for so many people and would certainly solve a lot of problems.

Okay, and then so for same-day registration or voting day registration like I think you What do we have to have in place for that to be effective? Can we do it with the same staff, do we need machines? What will we need to move to get that, make that effective?

Probably more equipment. I think we tried it on early voting, having those kind of systems in place to make people feel like the election is secure. Right? For sure.

Yeah, as long as a polling location can get access into Verus this is a really simple thing to get forward. So for some you know polling locations getting that access whether it be technology would be A big one but really it is a very simple implementation here in Massachusetts because of the way that we already have structured our You know, volunteers or poll workers are administrators. It's just moving those resources around away from the provisional ballots Although I see Tracy has her hand up. Yay, Tracy, come on in.

My bad. Come on in, Tracy.

No worries, no worries. Yeah, just to follow up a little bit, I totally agree with Brooke that we are... We're in a situation where to bring in as many people as we possibly can and make it as easy for them to be participatory in our democracy. As a former educator, I believe that it needs to start early and I'm talking like school age, right? Like it needs to start early as to why it's important to participate in our democracy. And then the other piece of it is In terms of the education piece, so at the ACLU we run a program called BIPOC to the Ballot Box where it really is about Thank you for joining us.

and so this particular program focuses a lot on municipal elections, and the ways in which those day-to-day Thank you so much for joining us. Voting is pretty low on the list of things, right? We've got to make it It's apparent to them why voting is important and how it impacts their daily lives. How it impacts the grocery store prices, Thank you. is where we really need to educate folks on how participating in elections really affects them.

One quick, just in terms of voter participation since we're talking about that. Anybody have any thoughts on, we have a question I think it's seven about eliminating party primaries here in the state.

That's three.

Is it three? Sorry, I apologize. Any thoughts on how that would Would it impact participation, increase, decrease? Your thoughts. No? I don't know whether the no is I don' want to answer or no would not.

The League of Women Voters Massachusetts hasn't taken a position on question three, but I'd be happy to provide we did a forum with both the yes and the no sides virtually and have that recording available for folks that want to hear more on the arguments for the merits of the questions.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you chair. I will say that a lot of labor is against question three and I know Question and I think question three, when you look at there are a lot of questions. There's a lot issues but if we're talking about expanding democracy and really giving voters a choice I think question three is the wrong question. The right question is ranked choice voting, which we did take care of up here on the council. So just putting my two cents out there and I love that you raised election day should be a federal holiday so I just want to thank you If you have more questions, Councilor, we will do a second round because I had more questions as well. The chair recognizes Councilor Mejia. Councilor Mia, you have the floor in seven minutes.

Thank you Chair and thank you for hosting this hearing. and for those who may not know, I won by one vote. So you know I'm gonna show up for this hearing because Every vote literally matters and the more that we can reduce barriers for engagement, I am always gonna show up for that. And also just I know we're going to talk to Sabino and Carrie later. So these are my people, and I'm really excited that we're going to be able to brainstorm together about what we need to do to address some of the apathy that exists here in the city of Boston. But just really quick, I have a few questions. So all of your organizations are part of the Massachusetts election campaign Protection Coalition, right? And our leading poll monitoring efforts for our elections that just happened in September and the upcoming one in November to assist voters with issues with barriers to access

Record issues, irregularities such as running out of ballots or machines malfunctioning and providing rapid response by being in touch with local elections and the Massachusetts Secretary of State. I just want everybody, I said all that. You already know all of that but for those folks who don't know now they know. And this year there's an added concern on the federal election monitors, and so from the Department of Justice. Were there any issues with federal election monitors during the primary election? and are there any concerns about the general election? And if you could please discuss how the federal administration is impacting voting access or disempatizing people.

So we did see DOJ monitors in polling places throughout Boston and throughout the Commonwealth. Our volunteer poll observers were in four different cities, I believe during on the primary day and we saw These DOJ monitors in all of those cities. Luckily, there were not any issues of concern that arose which was a good thing Looking to the general election, we don't yet know if the Department of Justice will be sending their so-called poll monitors to polling places. Let us know by us, I mean the public. They issued a public statement a few days prior to the primary and it was not until the day before that they added that these monitors would be going to the city of Lowell as well so

We won't necessarily get an advance notice about the DOJ's plans. I think more broadly, something that we at Lawyers for Civil Rights are very concerned about is the potential presence of armed federal agents, whether that's DOJ or FBI or ICE near polling places. The federal government has indicated through public statements that this is not something off the table. There's also been records of meetings they've had about having agents sort of taking control of certain polling places through FOIA requests, It's been learned that there have been some potential plans that are being floated. And so all of that is not to strike fear into eligible voters here, I think it's really important

continue to encourage folks to go out and vote because they have that right no matter what, and the actions of the federal government is what is unlawful. and is what will be stopped immediately when organizations like Lawyers for Civil Rights get wind of what's going on, we are ready to jump into action because the presence of armed officers is illegal under so many different provisions of federal law, state law. So definitely a concern but we really want to make sure that we encourage folks to still get out and exercise their right.

Thank you. So then one of the concerns that people sometimes raise about the same-day voter registration is election security. Can you please explain how Question 4 uses proof of residency and oath to sign in provisional ballots addresses this concern of election security.

Thank you for that question. One thing I always underline is that It follows the same standards we require of voter registration at any other time in any other vehicle in Massachusetts. So it's something that we already know and trust. And I know we know this here, but to put it out there again, voter fraud is exceptionally rare in this country and in those 24 states that have and many more. Audit and study after study have shown that this isn't an issue. To look more specifically at proof of residency, it does require you to show proof of that can be many things you could choose to show in ID. We also, in Massachusetts do require you to show an ID the first time you register whether that's when you register or at the polls So that does follow that same guidance.

It also requires, you know the proof of residency could be your utility bill and it could be for Our students here in Boston, it could be your transcript or your housing assignment for your campus. So it requires that same threshold that we already know and trust here in Massachusetts. It's just happening on election day at your polling location.

I can't believe my time is almost up. So this council, so thank you for that. This council also recently passed a resolution in support of protecting mail-in voting. Besides mail-In voting and same day voter registration. How can we make voting more accessible? And what can the council do to support voting access and education? I mean, there's things that we could do right now and I'd love to hear what you think those things are that you've seen in other municipalities. I'm all-in for making voting a holiday, I think about no brainer though but what else can we be doing? that you'd like to see us do?

I'd like better signage. Those white sandwich boards have been around forever and they blend in with the landscape. Right, like fluorescent orange. I mean just things to visibility is important so I just think that could help. Just change it up a little bit.

And our Boston public schools play a role also in the education and civics, right? So we could be doing a better job at training the next generation of voters as well. So some signage, some public education engagement and outreach. What else?

To your point on that, Councilor Mejia, and thank you for bringing up the schools who are incredible partners in this work. We know through the work that the league does, that many of our local leagues try to do not only registration at schools but also the pre-registration for 16 and 17 year olds. and I don't have the answer with this, but a huge barrier that we see when we're doing this work is students don't know their information typically. and so on. And, you know especially in an urban area students don't have a driver's license with them to register to vote they're required to you know have the last four of their social security number trying to get that out of a 16 year old is quite difficult and rightfully so schools I would welcome any partnership or ideas either with Boston Public Schools or Here in these hallowed halls to see how we could work together to help get students that information because we do run into a lot of really incredible students who want to do this work that just have that information bump and they don't come back to it after that.

for my second round that I want to be respectful of. I just want to say, Councilor, I literally used that example weekly that you won by one vote.

No, no, the Pulitzer child. I'll be back for a second round.

Thank you and just want to make sure Tracy if you had anything that you wanted to chime in, you got to just talk over me, talk over everybody because we wanna make sure that you feel like you're part of the conversation.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, I would agree with Celia. You know the opportunity to be in Boston Public Schools to start this education early right? To make sure that students understand their responsibility and the benefit of participating in our democracy. So any kind of educational program that we could build within the school system would be amazing, The other thing I think that in terms of making it more accessible, I love the idea of having Election Day be a holiday. Even aside from that, is there a way we can make it so that students Younger people recognize that this is their responsibility. I think however we can make that happen would be amazing. And I also want to echo Cheryl's point about the signage.

As I mentioned in my testimony, signage is a huge issue. People are very confused about how they get to where they get, particularly when we know that there are a number of wards within one school gym. They're very confused about what that looks like, what that means, where they're supposed to be. And so we should work on ways in making sure the signage is more visible and accessible. And that's something we can do now, like before November.

Thank you Tracy and again Admin is here and we've heard a lot of comments about signage so I'm going to take it. The authority, the liberty to say that I know that they're going to be working on signing for this upcoming election. Okay. The chair recognizes Councilor O'Reilly. You have the floor and seven minutes.

Thank you, Chair and thank you to the panelists that are here. A lot of my questions have been answered already but I am here for everything that has been advocated for Cheryl, you mentioned the signage. You drive around Boston and sometimes you see something chain-linked right to one of these light posts and it's like halfway tipping over or um it's not really visible so I do believe we could be a lot more excited as a city in one of the ways is just making sure that that siding is Visible and vibrant and bright but also very much in favor of you know making it a holiday right I mean when you have a day off you're like why do i have a Day off right and it's like you start to push that narrative it's election day So any way that we can do it, partnerships with the school. I love that idea. It's something that just seems so seamless right?

We already have a group of voters in the schools who are probably waiting and ready to be engaged on this topic. So if you're happy to partner, we have a lot of great high schools inside of District 4 but very supportive of reducing the barriers in support of all your work. Thank you.

Mejia, you can use the rest of his time if you want. No, just kidding. We're going to do a second round right now and I'll come back to you. I think actually one of my return questions It was what rights and information should be posted to every site about assistance, accessible equipment, and the right to remain in line at 8 p.m.? It sounds like you all will say that we need more of that signage Anything specific at the polling locations that we need to do a better job of making sure there's signage about.

Tracy might have something.

Yes, accessible entrances, accessible Yeah.

And then also... Tracy, you uplifted the Higgins and Lewis in Roxbury from this primary, right? So that's something that we saw a few weeks ago. Okay. Yep.

Yes, yes. And it also needs to be... When I say accessible, it isn't just wheelchair accessibility because the accessibility looks different for someone in a wheelchair versus someone with a walker or a cane, right? So one of the things that I encountered, you know Once we figured out the automatic door situation, that was fine. There was a ramp and you could get through the automatic But then you had to literally go about the length of a football field before you got to the elevator that was then going to take you up. That distance works fine for someone in a wheelchair. That might not work well for someone who has to walk that distance and has mobility challenges, right? So we need to look at it through a variety of accessibility lenses and that's important as well.

Thank you Tracy. What is the plan for educating voters about the complexity of The question, they're not complex but there are nine questions on the ballot. And so what is a plan to educate voters? I will never forget on election day in 2020 It was ranked choice voting statewide. This is before I was elected myself. Ranked choice voting was on the ballot statewide, and I remember talking to voters who came out of the polling locations and said that they voted no on it because they didn't understand the question. And I wanted to tear my hair out, because we could have done a better job of voter education. But how are we explaining to people in simple terms what are the nine questions and what they would mean for people?

I know we all have something to say here, but I can start real quick. Just a plug for the league has been working on educating even just through the ballot process. I think this year highlighted We've been talking quite a bit about ballot questions, what we love, what people want to work on that kind of thing. So we've been working for about a year now on educating voters on all the proposals then all the questions and into what our advocacy is The number one tool I recommend for voters and what we have been really pushing is our vote411.org online tool We put it in simple terms for the ballot questions This is also separate from our advocacy work, Vote 411 so we don't provide and many more. So they can save a question, save a yes vote, save an no vote and be able to refer back to it. and many more.

Show up at the polling location at 755 and not have access to that information. We've also been doing our ballot question forums across I know here we've been focusing a bit more on Zoom just because of the interest in these questions and how high profile they are. But that would be our response and how we're working on that and referring people continually to the Red Book this year, as long as it may be because of the great information within it.

Thank you. This will be my last question because everyone's going to get... Oh, go ahead, Cheryl. My bad. I'm sorry. No, because I'm so excited. Yes, I know.

You've been working on this. This is your baby. Hot off the press. We created a bookmark. So it's skinny, right? and it has the nine questions, five on the front four on the back. And it has to question and it says yes no. And what we're hoping to do is to give it out everywhere moving forward at all of our events Tabling events, the forum and ask everybody to make that decision before and take this bookmark with you. To the polling location, no one's going to sit up there and read that red book cover-to-cover and understand it and then remember, they're definitely not going to go into the polling location you hand them. I anticipate the ballot's going to be about five at a minimum seven pages. How many pages? Only three?

Commission saying three.

Well, I'm just thinking nine questions. But anyway, but asking people to flip, flip, know what No, we always ask people to make a plan before you... How are you going to vote? Now we're asking you to make sure that you understand what's on the ballot before you walk in there. Those nine ballot questions can be, you know, Oak Cumberland and

Yes, thank you. That's great and I love I hope that bookmark gets promoted and I also hope that I know that your mass vote is non-partisan but I hope we are giving people like Yes on question four, no one question three that we are giving. I know that's not you all saying that and say that those are the positions that I'm prepared to take that we're also sharing that information with others. Okay, I am going to... President Breadon, you have the floor in five minutes for any additional questions that you may have.

I think the ballot... The balance challenge caused hiccups in the polling process last time, so multiple sheets I think it's a question of maybe polling workers, no one to one page at a time and put them in slowly and don't feed them all in together. It gets chewed up and then it screws up the whole process but In terms of thinking about the ballots, The ballot questions, do people just skip those because it's just too hard to think about? Or I don't want them to throw the baby out with the bathwater and decide oh this is just too much, I'm not even going to bother voting. What's your experience with that?

That's what I believe. And the writing is small. The writing, and especially finding out that you're going to put nine ballot questions on three pages, then I know the writing's gonna be small now, right? We need to make it larger but I think people get discouraged But the point I want to bring up here in this moment is, I remember two years ago we had maybe two or three ballot questions. But it was two pages to the ballot and I remember in Roxbury they were only giving out one page They weren't giving out two pages. Many of those ballot questions did not get approved or voted on because they did not have two pages I want to make sure this year if however many pages it is that every precinct has all the pages and that the trainers, the poll workers are trained to make sure that these packages are getting in everyone's hand not partially.

It's not fair to the ballot questions that are on the back if the last page is not even given to the voter.

The other question I have, maybe you want to add anything else to that?

Yeah. I would just add that for us part of the education with the ballot questions as well is not only the apathy or the confusion that having so many questions has but also just simply and many more.

I know the issue, and I'll probably ask this question of our Elections Department folks when they come but how do we make sure that we have enough election poll workers on Election Day Because I think it's a numerous commitment. You have to be there very early in the morning and you're working late into the evening. It's not very well compensated, but it is like a civic duty. People take it very seriously How do we recruit more people and get more people, especially our younger people engaged in this process?

We've seen so at the League we do an extensive poll worker recruitment. We know poll workers are some of the life's blood of our elections What we've seen help incentivize younger people is that volunteer hours, could this go towards their National Honor Society requirement? Could this go toward You know, a resume and giving them the information that helps with that. We tell every young person that comes to us and says I'm gonna be a poll worker To come back to us after Election Day to get the language on how to reflect that in college applications and their resumes and that kind of work so For young people, I think it's kind of emphasizing Thank you. Thank you so much. and why that's so important. You know, we always tell people it's their civic duty but the function of a poll worker can sometimes be a mystery to constituents.

So I would point you just further education on kind like the duties and responsibilities how long our shift What is the compensation and saying that plainly? If it's volunteerism, what can that go towards kind of thing? Just providing that sort of value added to the volunteer choosing to do that work.

I also think, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on civics education in schools. I know when I was a kiddo our school closed for election day and all the gear arrived and our principal we were taught really tiny country school But we actually enacted what was going to happen the next day for the adults, but we had only a little election and explained what voting was all about. How do we improve our civics education Because I think that's a big issue as well, like how do we get increased voter participation through starting to get them early?

That's where I was going to go with Tracy started with. We have to start earlier. and so that they're familiar with the process. The other point I want to bring, the other side of that is partnering with colleges. I know Suffolk Votes, we partner with Suffolks Votes on their activities to turn out the students in at Suffolk, but they were part of a much larger process like other colleges. But really having the opportunity to speak with those students about To your point, how it impacts their life right and how much fun it can be because it really is fun on election day to be engaged, civically engaged. And it's meaningful but I would suggest that we partner with colleges

I think it's making it a social event and you know let's go for coffee or go for a beer whatever it is to make it a Thank you.

Yeah, the ACLU does a number of civic education schools around the Commonwealth Our target audience is adults, but I could absolutely see how this could be something that could be put into schools if the schools are interested in it. And I do, yeah. I completely believe that we need to start this process earlier, right? Students need to understand why this is important and I love the idea of getting students to understand that being a poll worker could be to their benefit as well as doing good in the community, right? So yeah. I think there are a number of ways we can approach it.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you so much, Council President Breadon. Thank to this panel. The chair organizes. Councilor Weber, you have five minutes.

Thank You. I will say around the presidential election 2024 With a group of fifth graders at the BTU school, I recreated something that I remember from being a fifth grader and we ran through the electoral college, and we did a presidential election. When I was in fifth grade it was Mondale-Reagan but... And we didn't do Trump-Harris because I thought and a landslide. So we did Michael Jackson versus Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson won the popular vote but Taylor Swift won the electoral college because she had California and Florida. But that stuck with me for a lot of years Hopefully those kids remember that kind of experience. I think we can do a lot in the schools around that. Thank you to Tracy Billy at the BTU Schools, the librarian there for for doing that with me. Okay, so number one I guess maybe this is for Tracy up there.

For ADA compliance do we have like a All the polling places audited? Or is this just like you've been to a few and you've heard about problems. Do we have a sense of if we had to grade all the locations, have we had them visited and signed off on...

It's funny you should mention that. So the Elected Modernization Coalition has a bill Polling places be audited on a regular basis. Maybe Celia can look that one up too. But yeah, the idea is that a regular audit of polling places around the Commonwealth would alert us to these issues and problems ahead of time as opposed to us finding out about these situations the day of. I mean, some of the other issues that I was based in Lawrence on primary day, and we had other folks obviously around the Commonwealth. But some of the issues that we ran into could have been remedied had we just had a little bit of notice One of the things that we found out in a couple of places, because we use school buildings

we ran into situations where school staff were leaving at three o'clock and so Doors were then locked because school staff was not there to keep them open. That's something that we could identify ahead of time, recognizing the scheduling that exists in our schools. So that's just one example, but yes the idea of auditing polling places is out there we have been advocating for that it just has not on the way we had hoped.

OK, then so in terms of like federal officials showing up at polling stations is can you just explain what was the real reason why they were here during There's been a history, and I believe Rahsaan Hall sort of was alluding to this, of DOJ sending observers

or poll monitors to polling places to check in particularly about language access. So under the Voting Rights Act, there are certain requirements different types of language accessibility. And that is sort of the guise under which they were purporting to send monitors to polling places in select states and select cities during the primary. Okay.

Do they care about all language access? I know what's happened with the refugee program where now, all of a sudden, all we care about are white South Africans and that's the only people being admitted.

So there's, and I don't have the number off the top of my head but there are a certain number of languages that are recognized under the Voting Rights Act. In certain municipalities, it depends on sort of the population of folks that speak those languages. So it differs based on a town or city like Boston would have different languages than and maybe Worcester.

Yeah. OK, and then just in terms of the practice of putting people on an active status? So is there a policy reason to keep that like you know is there good policy reason for that or it's just

I think I can speak for all of us that the answer to that is no.

Okay, and... I guess maybe part of that is also, I know there's proposed changes to the census process. There's been attempts to get immigration status put on the census, Breadon is essentially talking about some of that. People don't want to return their census, so that might be another reason to make sure by 2030 we're not still relying on that? Do I have that correct?

Yeah, we could go down the... There's a laundry list of reasons to decouple it. I would point to that especially anything that can help boost voters' confidence and trust in What they're expected to provide as part of the process is always a benefit. But we know that decoupling, when we go down the line on reasons the municipal census can be a barrier When we look at one census per household in the state, it can even go as far as at the league we point to victims of domestic violence who may not just straight up get access to their mail or their vote. We go into, you know, Talking about accessibility that many of these street listings aren't provided in Braille or with a screen reader or any kind of way for Folks with vision problems or even the filling out of the actual paperwork, which I know in Boston there is an online version and I want to commend you for that. That it's not something we share across the state

So there's a lot of barriers to even filling this out, even if you wanted to in good nature and you trust it. There are still those barriers there. It just only stands to be in the way of voters.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Webber. The chair recognizes. Councilor Mejia, you have the floor in five minutes.

Thank you Chair. So yes real quick.

You can go I'm just struggling.

All right, so I often talk about the fact that my mom has a low literacy. She didn't make it beyond the third grade and so Those that book is not only the letters are small, it's just not accessible to folks who have low literacy. And I'm just curious what if any advocacy you'd like to see around maybe utilizing more visuals as ways to educate and inform people. I also am a big advocate of audio, so just curious if you have seen other cities or states doing and many more. Thank you very much.

Yeah, so I can't speak to what we've seen in other cities or states. But to your point on audio, I always like to underline and I want to thank the Disability Law Center who's not here today but pointed this out to us an educated our organization that The AutoMark machine that is typically used for folks that may need help filling in the circles or help filling out a ballot also can read the ballot to you, including the full language of these questions in multiple languages. So for folks that, you know under our current system where we have this block of access to information the Automark machine can be used for so much more than just the filling out of a ballot. It will allow you to read that for those who may have issues with literacy or may not have had access to literacy programs would be the better way to put that. I know in some of our other state leagues and our state partners, we've seen a little bit more of like the plain language go a bit farther. Just straight up translating it from the legal language into Plain language.

The problem that we see in Massachusetts from a league perspective is that some of these questions are intentionally complicated and the language is incredibly hard to translate Not only into plain English, but into other languages. In a way I know at the league that's been a barrier for us into translating some of our materials as we don't have access to be able to get that more technical language translated. So anything we can see advocacy-wise, and I welcome solutions from our partners and our advocates elsewhere into how can we kind of destigmatize make these less technical? I guess that's what I'm trying to say.

Yeah, y'all don't all have to answer just because my time is ticking but if she said everything we're good

I would just add really quickly that you have the right to have someone help you vote, whether it's a language problem or at your point sort of an information gap. So just spreading the word that everyone does have that right.

I got three more questions and I'm trying to get them in before my time. Okay, so I'm also curious about the poll workers in diverse languages. I am curious what if any I do know that that is a focus of mass vote in the voter table because we have

Regionally, we have all of these organizations and we have many different languages. And so I heard Shanique make this request yesterday in the meeting asking people for that very reason Haitian Creole, Khmer. All these different languages where our organizations thrive that we're trying to recruit poll workers from those organizations with You know, highlighting those languages.

Yeah, because what I think would be important is like yes we need election day coverage but if there's a way looking at y'all back there, to maybe even bring people on board sooner so that those poll workers are also educating their immediate neighborhoods. It's going to be election day. Next week, make sure you have a plant. There's other ways that we could activate folks so it's not just a one-off and I think that would also help support the level of enthusiasm because Voting isn't sexy. It's not fun. Who wants to go turn up at a poll? Nobody, right? Unless you know whatever.

We can make it fun. We

We should. And I've been to some of your election day parties, and I love them. But in 2000, to Councilor Weber's going down memory lane, I used to work at MTV. And I cover the presidential elections between Gore and Bush. And I got to travel the entire country trying to get young people enthusiastic about voting, and that was my first experience with Why people don't care. And you're absolutely right, Tracy. People don't understand the connection that politics has on their day-to-day life and that was in 2000. And then after that I came back home, and then I initiated this initiative called Determine Divas where we incentivize people to register to vote and we made a contest out of it. The people who registered the most got gift cards, so like we just try to make it as fun as possible but at the end of the day, people aren't voting because they just don't see themselves reflected in the conversation.

And I think that's also on the electeds and the candidates that are running, for them to understand that they also have a role to play. It can't just be city government and the nonprofit organizations, that there is a role for everyone to play and getting people enthusiastic about that. And I look forward to working in collaboration with you all to do just that, thank you.

Thank you to this really wonderful panel for your insights and for all you do to uphold democracy, and to make sure that democracy is accessible to those who have too often been forgotten by our systems intentionally so. folks who are working class, too often our black and brown voters, voters of color. Like Councilor Mejia stated those with low literacy rates we want to think about how we're bringing everybody into the democratic process and the advice that you gave us and the advice that you've given to this city, I think will be really well taken. Yes on question four so we can have election day voter registration. Cheryl, we know that this has been your life's work especially with mass voter tables We appreciate you and let us know that we have a resolution that I entered, that will be voting on God willing next Wednesday. But we'll let this body know what we can do to further strengthen

Thank you to Tracy and Rahsaan, who are also here with us via video. We appreciate your testimony. We are now going to transition to the administration panel. So you all are relieved, but feel free to stick around and hear from the administration. Let me turn to central staff to see if we have anyone signed up for public testimony. and we have one person here for public testimony. During the transition, Alan... I know his name so he can... Alan Tanner, if you could please come up to the mic. You have two minutes. Please identify your name, where you're from and you have two minute for testimony. Certainly.

Give me just one moment. Okay thank you. Hello, my name is Alan Tanner and I am here testifying in favor of, I believe it's docket number 1805. Okay, good morning members of the Boston City Council and all who are present in this chamber today. I testify today as a former Voter Engagement Organizer and actively engaged resident of the City of Boston. I stand in favor of same-day voter registration, as I believe this is a critical tool Thank you very much.

do not have time to fill out lots of paperwork, to send things back. or struggle to remember deadlines or elections because they have many other deadlines or other matters they are keeping in their head. Also, this opens the door for those who may change their mind at the last minute about whether they want a vote or not and for new voters that are unfamiliar with the system, now this is one less challenge they will need to face. I believe that this measure should pass if we truly want more representative democracy A more accessible election system. An election system that is inviting to not dissuasive with a deadline after deadline, I also believe that increasing voter turnout is helpful to candidates for any office because it increases the number of voters that will actually be voting, thereby creating The aforementioned more representative democracy.

This measure would also help the busy mother who has to get her kids off to school and get herself to work before needing to be home, before the kids get home and start preparing dinner leaving little time for voting on such a busy day. This act has great potential and should pass this body favorably Yeah, I have too much more to go. You have what? I have a lot more to do.

I'll give you another two minutes just because since you're the only person here for public testimony but then we will turn to so you can continue Thank you.

Alright, thank you. I also believe that by increasing voter turnout this is helpful to candidates for any office because it increases the number of voters that will actually be voting thereby creating the aforementioned more representative democracy. This measure would... Oh, I already went through that. To address the opposition on this ballot measure who is the Massachusetts Republican Party These arguments made about election security are the same type of argument seen when the current federal administration tried to eliminate or dissuade mail-in voting due to so called security concerns. This rhetoric only undermines our democracy and disenfranchises voters. This does not leave room for people who do not fit into the category of fraud or generally trying to take part in the democratic process.

If you would review your red booklet issued by the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you will see that there are in fact security measures in place such as document certification of claimed facts regarding residents for those looking to change their voting address on Election Day and also sworn statements affidavits under the strict felony penalties for misinformation. Let us pass question four and advance the voice of the people. Let's stand against the rhetoric that tries to take away opportunities to participate in our democratic system all over the country Even in places where we would least expect such rhetoric. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this matter today, I yield this time.

Thank You Alan and thank you for your advocacy So before we turn over to this panel, something else that you mentioned and that others mentioned is the fear about voter fraud and how low incidences of any fraud, whether we're talking about Massachusetts or around the country, how low it is. You know, someone who used to fight against voter ID laws because we knew that they were more of an intimidation and a chilling tactic than they were one about voter fraud. I just wanted to thank everyone for reiterating how damaging it is when we put that language out into our democratic process. Thank you everyone for testifying. I'm now going to turn it over to this esteemed panel, which is our administration panel. We have Kerry Jordan, newly Executive Director of the Boston Elections Department. Paul Chong, Commissioner City Records and former Interim Director.

And a man of many hats and a man that we all know very dearly here Sabino Pamonte, Head Assistant Registrar of Voters, Boston Election Department. I'm now going to turn it over for you for any presentation. You have the floor.

Thank you very much, Councillor Louijeune. We want to thank the Chair, the Council President, Councillor Weber and Councillor Mejia and all the members of this body I really needed this hearing. It is nourishing to the soul to hear substantive, factual Discussion about the way that we do our civic life together. And so I'm so grateful to Mass Votes, to the Mass League of Women Voters, to To lawyers for civil rights and to this body for the kind of conversation that we're having today because, to me, it proves what we have here is worth fighting for. So my deepest gratitude. We have our Election Commissioner Janet Slovin here with us today.

Commissioner Slovin, thank you for your support. And thank you for being here. And to our commissioners who couldn't be here, we have our chair Adam Cederbaum, Republican member Rachel Kemp and Republican member Ellen Rooney as well. My deep thanks to them. and especially to the election department staff who enabled 79,474 voters to vote in the September primary. who answered almost 800 phone calls with a wait time of less than 16 seconds, who staffed and Organized 275 precincts all across the city. I am so deeply proud of the work that we do every day. These election department staff and our 1700 poll workers worked tirelessly.

And just to give you some perspective, the election department staff worked 50 days straight to make sure that these elections happen. This is not an organization that has a lot of slack, these are the hardest working people I know so my Gratitude to all the election department staff and Sabino exemplifies that. So with that, I'm pleased to be here. I was the interim election director. Carrie is the new election director Questions about the September 1st primary, I will do my best to answer questions about our preparations moving forward. I will defer to Mr. Jordan and Mr. Pamonti.

I want to point out that yes, we did have federal election monitors and yes there are challenges and very legitimate fears among both the voting public and our poll workers about the state of federal oversight. But I also want to make sure that our voters know If you believe bad actors are trying to disenfranchise you from voting, The not voting accomplishes those ends. So I would request the assistance of this council, I would encourage voters to vote and we have two weeks of early voting starting October 17th vote early you can vote by mail we have city operated lock drop boxes and there's a map on our website in every neighborhood.

So if you don't trust the USPS, we pick those up and then election day as well. There's a lot to talk about operationally, and I just want to make a quick note for this body. The budget that we decide soon It's coming up, will be the budget that takes us through the beginning of the presidential primaries in 2028. And so as we talk about election preparations and the things that we're doing to train poll workers, to hire staff, to make positive changes. We will need your help because we have to lay the foundations now in order to be prepared for 2028 as far off as that may sound. So with that, thank you and Chair back to you.

Okay well thank you. Thank you to you all for being here. My first question is that the department remains subject to Secretary Galvin's February 2025 order What has Michael Sullivan reviewed or approved for November? Which requirements are fully met, and are there unresolved findings or corrective actions, and when will the Secretary of State's order terminate?

So we haven't had the conversation with the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office yet. but they have been very engaged with us, including the Secretary's designee. So we have a running dialogue with them. Carrie and I were at a training hosted by the secretary's office set this week Last week. And so we talked with them very regularly, they were very involved in meeting with the Department of Justice and so we plan to hold a very successful Election in November, and then we will revisit that conversation with our partners at the state. Thank you.

We listened to the earlier panel talk about accessibility issues, talked about signage issues. After the September primary what did the incidents log show by precinct and category?

So I don't have every detail in front of me, but we are certainly I'm excited to work with our partners to address any potential issues. I would say, and I think I'm a little biased but overall we had a very smooth election.

Okay, well I guess I'll ask the question more directly. We heard from the prior panel about how we can improve upon accessibility when it comes to signage We are very excited to work with you, Councilor and others to make sure that

We all of our polling places are accessible as possible and that we improve our signage.

And what will we be doing? Are you doing anything differently We heard about the sandwich boards, what else we can do? Billboards, more advertisements on the radio. What else are we thinking about doing to increase voter engagement and voter turnout?

Kerry Jordan, Executive Director, Election Department. I'm just excited to share that the department has been undergoing a creative rebranding, just so our materials stand out a lot more. So they do feature some more oranges. They are aligned with the city blues. So that's one of the things that we're putting up Street Furniture. I think they're just getting approved within these days but we're really trying to make sure our website is accurate, it's up-to-date so shout out to our creative team, You know, to our communications. Ian Flood and all the work that he does to make sure that we're getting the right messages out to the community. We're absorbing the materials The department's been open to answering questions. In my three weeks of being there, it's just been a great opportunity to kind of see a different side of this building and how many departments within this building Come together to make sure that they support a successful election operation.

One of the ways we do that is with a pre-meeting that brings in all the operations stakeholders, brings in BPS, brings BCYF and makes sure we talk to those facility departments to make the doors are open, the lights are on, The area is ready for election day. So I think that I'm learning how proactive this department is. I'm happy to demystify that it's a two-day operation for the whole year, Not true. The team's been working nonstop, cranking every day I come in. Folks are head down getting the work done so excited to join that team and uplift Fair and Safe Elections that the city does.

Thank you, and one other thing I'll say that I was happy to support is that electronic poll books are now the norm at all of our polling locations and I was very excited It's very exciting to see how seamlessly it's working. I'm trying to get in one more question. In 2024, the issue that we saw of that election that led to ballot shortages—the double subtraction and the ballot formula contributed to them. Is the 100% of registered voters redistribution policy enforced in every precinct and every ballot card this November?

Yes, Chair.

Okay. Can you elaborate on that? Absolutely, there's a- And I think Cheryl also talked about this too. Are we making sure that there are no pages missing? Especially you said three pages for the very long nine ballot questions.

Absolutely. And Sabino can give you the exacting detail, but there is A quality control and quality assurance process that is very rigorous has been approved by the Secretary of Commonwealth. There are multiple sign-offs at multiple stages, to ensure that we count and recount the number of ballots that go into our ballot boxes. Sabino, if in the days ahead of the election he and his team spend long hours Making sure that the inventory of ballots that we ordered is the inventory ballots that We receive, is the Inventory Ballots that we pack and then that goes all The way to the poll workers who make Sure that the ballots are there as well

Yeah, just to add there is a packing slip that we include that not only do we sign off on the Commissioner signs off on and the poll workers have to sign off on. So immediately first thing in the morning if they don't have the amount that's being assigned to them, they will call us to identify any shortages.

Thank you, I have a few additional questions but I'll turn it to my colleagues. Council President Breadon, you have the floor in six minutes.

Thank you good to see you all thank you so much and yes thank you to the Elections Department All their diligent attention. This is a hugely important issue for us in the city. Just looking forward to recent national reporting on highlighted A Supreme Court decision allowing states to access a new federal voter verification system that combines citizenship, social security and other government records to identify Potentially ineligible voters. Given Boston's commitment to both election integrity and voter access, can the Election Commission explain what procedures are in place to ensure that voter registration and how does the city protect eligible voters from being improperly challenged or removed

Government databases contain inaccurate or outdated information. Are we intersecting with that process at all?

So most of our systems are controlled by the Secretary of State's office. People register online using there, website, which goes to a process of verifying residents to become voters and once they pass that process comes to our queue for us to register them to vote.

So we comply with the state requirements, so the voter registration is processed through the state VRIS system. We do not in the election department use the federal saves database, so there is no federal intersection as far as our local office is concerned.

And then also the other issue, you talked about manpower and the great team that you have. You said 1,700 poll workers. What's the current status of recruitment for poll workers and are there vacancies that remain still vacant to be filled? Take your moment to pitch the job for wanted poll workers.

Absolutely a need. I think that's one of our number-one tasks. We have a training schedule that starts Monday, the first wave of poll workers are going to go through that training and I think we're training all the way up until November so We're definitely trying to get as many folks to staff the polls as we can. So any efforts that can support that cause and get folks to sign up on boston.gov slash elections would be great to point folks to sign up.

And can poll workers sign up to work in their own district or are they sent other places? Because I think one of the areas, it's an early morning start if you don't have Your own wheels, your own transportation, you rely on public transit or whatever. How does it work and are there particular areas in the city where you still need more people?

So we're open to trying our best to staff folks where there's need, to where they're close to home. When we can't guarantee that, we'll try to move them out just as much as we can but still keep them close to the home. I know your district, Austin-Brighton is one of the areas that we're always looking to build poll workers. So we're working with the schools in the areas to make sure we put that word out and get that message out.

Okay, we'll give it a plug. And how can we as city councillors strengthen accountability around election administration while maintaining confidence in the election outcomes? Like what do you need from us to support you Do your very important job.

I'll start and then point it this way, but pointing folks to Boston.gov we try to put all the factual information there. The department is their mission is to deliver fair and safe elections for everyone who's We're also in the community, our commissioners are out making sure they're tabling events along the side of the department. Whatever efforts we can do in our small but mighty workforce, we're doing our best to point people in the right direction to where the facts are. We get so much from the state including The Red Book. So we take that and try to just point people to where their facts are

The other thing we talked earlier about accessibility and signage, I just want to say that very often election day falls on the first Tuesday of the month which happens to be street cleaning day in Austin Brighton. And people get told when they go into vote so Make sure that ONS communicates that on an election day we won't be towing in the vicinity of polling places. I think that might be helpful as well. I've been doing it for time. You're good, you have a minute. Oh wow this is incredible. Just thinking big picture are there any other anticipated challenges for the upcoming election day?

Absolutely, there's a three-page ballot and it's double sided. So as you know our check in process is much more efficient now thanks to The electronic poll books there, but if it takes 30 seconds to check in But it takes thirty seconds to feed each page into the ballot box We are anticipating that it will be a longer and lengthier process for people to vote in person, so on election night especially. So we really encourage voters to vote early or to vote by mail.

With early voting, I think we're hitting nine neighborhoods for an additional week so two weeks of early voting And so we're trying to hit as many districts as we can to make sure voters, we're coming to where folks can vote ahead of time.

And really encouraging people to make a plan. Early voting is great, get it done but also make a Plan and if you have to vote on election day make sure you have a plan to be there in good time and work through it

Just do it. And read the questions in advance.

Read the questions. Some of them are incredible. They're really long and quite complex, so yeah, that's our homework. Thank you. I have to go off to another meeting but thank you all for being here and thank you Madam Chair

Thank you, Councilor.

Thank you. Thank You, Council President Breadon and thank you to these questions I want to give a big shout out to Ed Shoemaker here from Rain Trace Boston at Rain Traces Massachusetts, Boston Rainchurch, Boston. So thank you for being here with us. The chair recognizes Councilor Mia. You have the floor in six minutes. Six or seven? We had seven the first time, five, seven, five and now six. But if you need more, you're the only counselor you can take. Well we'll be here until tomorrow.

How about that? Wow. Okay. So it's good to see you all. Thank you for being here and congratulations, Carrie, given your IT work. I am going to assume that you're gonna bring a lot of that energy in terms of modernizing the electoral process, so looking forward to all your creativity in that space and Sabino, it's always great to see you. And welcome back. It's good to see your commissioner. So really quick I'm gonna start with Sabino. Sabino how long have you been here?

Too long.

How many decades? No such thing.

34 years.

34 years, and over the last decades that you've been here can you talk to us about a time when you felt Like the elections department had it right and there weren't a lot of hiccups. Can you name that era?

I feel that way before every election. We try to make it right, and deal with the issues that arise on the day of the election as they come to us. But we try to prepare for every election to be right.

All right then, so let me ask it differently. In the last few election cycles, in the last decades, which decade would you say I will never want to repeat this again? Was there a time job experience where you're like, oh, mm-mm, never again? No.

Every election is a different challenge, and I enjoy coming to work every single day to try to deal with the challenge. Every election is different. As you can see, this is the first time I'm doing an election with three-car ballot so it's a challenge unto itself but no there's...I enjoy coming to work every day I'm sorry, can I just... First time doing an election with? Three card ballot. Three card ballots, okay.

All right, Sabino. See I was trying to line you up so that you could ask for more money but you didn't go there. So I know but I was hoping you would name some things that I could be like all right But you didn't, and it's all good. So now let me ask the question. You had mentioned, Commissioner that In 2028, everything that we're going to have to do to prepare for the presidential elections that you're gonna look to this body to help support. And I'm glad that you are asking now because there's also redistricting that's gonna be happening There's a lot happening all at the same time. And so I'm curious, In order for the team, and Kerry please everyone could answer this question. What would a healthy budget look like so that you can execute against those deliverables? What do you need?

Right now, we're focused on the November elections. We of course will be developing a full budget proposal and we'll be in conversation with you I think some of the things that we would look towards are training, outreach, signage, language access, accessibility. We will work with the administration and councilors here to make sure that we put a substantive proposal in front of you.

That would be great. I think that we have to get ahead of these conversations, so I think it's good Planting those seeds and getting us to start thinking about how we build capacity. Because I always believe, we can do this all we want but if on this side of the aisle providing you all with the resources that you need. It's just a whole bunch of political theater when we're talking about this happened, but what did you do to advocate for the funds so that this department could actually be fully functioning? I think that it's really important for us to be mindful of the role we play in supporting you all. You can go, I'm not going to stop you so go ahead. I am curious though in terms of how The department interfaces with other departments. I'm thinking about BHA, I'm thinkin' about the Boston Public Health Commission, the Boston public schools. How do you see that coordination The Office of Direct Organizing and Civic Engagement in Community

What role do you all play in interfacing with those other departments?

I've had the gift of being here going on 20 years and I feel like along the way, I've just been gathering people. A person of the people. So along the journey, I keep meeting more people who strengthen the work that I get to do and it's even more now. I think we have an amazing team The folks that I've inherited to work with review the data. They're diving deep, and we're making decisions based off of that. So that's part of it. But the folks who work with also have a lot of history like me, and they could have a lots of connections We're not afraid to ask for those favors and get on folks' radars early so that we're not surprising them at the last minute with needs and requests. This team hosted a tabletop exercise in partnership with the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office. And that was just a great opportunity for me, even from do it to be in the room and kind of work through scenarios Office of Emergency Management.

Like, folks I probably never would have thought of had a part to play in the elections process but then hearing this is something that can actually happen what would the city do? Who are the people who call the shots and The folks who are the facilitators called us out to make sure we could identify who in the room was the person actually hit and sent on an email on behalf of the administration. So exercises like that, we expect to continue to do and make sure that we're keeping that Rolodex rolling to roping the right people.

I love that, and I always say that you know where resource rich but coordination poor, and i think that is an area of opportunity to kind of strengthen more the communication for all that comes out. I think about the Boston Public Health Commission and some of our community health centers They do intakes where, you know, do you feel safe at home? There's lots of things that you get asked. There could be another question that you ask, are you registered to vote? I mean there is so many low hanging fruit in ways that we can really strengthen civic engagement and make it, make that part of our everyday conversation. There's shelters, goodwill career centers where if you're looking for poll workers, I know that if you are transitioning out of DTA, you have to have some sort of work or trying to do something. So there's ways for you all to tap into some of the shelters, working with Goodwill even if it's just for a temporary scenario

I think that those are really good spaces and places for outreach, as well as barbershops and hair salons. That's like the gold mine when you're getting your hair done. Do you know it's election day? Maybe putting up some signage in some of these spaces and places. I know all that takes time, money and energy. But I do think the more intentional we are about the outreach, the more enthusiastic people will be about going out to it because everywhere they go, people are talking about it and I think that's the level of engagement that I'd like to see here in Boston. And I think we all play a role in helping that happen

I just want to point out very quickly that there is no one better to work with than Carrie Jordan. So I think he will be a fantastic partner. We had 20 departments show up to our tabletop exercise to plan and coordinate, and also We recently added Natalia Benitez Perez who is our former director of civic organizing to our staff and so we want to be We need to be engaged and make sure that we are working as closely with as many people as possible in the community to make our elections a success.

And I'm curious, what I have seen here in my time and I'm learning a lot as I go is that you were really good at saying all of the I know you listed lots of really great numbers, but what would you want people to know about The elections department and the staff that works there, not just your outputs and the things you do but just like real stuff. I mean those are real things but what do you want people to know about your team?

I'll start and just say the passion. It's like working with the council to start and seeing the passion that you guys put into the work that you do, but then just going through the layers and levels of this building and also seeing that reflected back out The training team, the poll worker recruitment team, like every individual that I've had the opportunity to work with on the second floor and at the warehouse. It's a huge operation that you just can't appreciate until you see it real time, so I'm looking forward to November. But the way the team rolls up their sleeves and works together in high fives with each other is really amazing to be part of.

Sabina, would you like to say?

I'd like to just add that all the other departments that we reach out to for assistance, for help on early voting days, our team can't do it on our own. Property Management, Boston Police Department, the Fire Cadets. Everything and anything that those cadets do to help deliver absentee ballots on election day Police Cadets to help the police officers coming back here on election night, to help um the boxes be removed out of vehicles. There's so many moving pieces there are so many people that do help us and we just can't do it on our own and we appreciate that

Yeah, and I also just want to thank your entire team. I love going down there and be like hey how y'all doing? And it is definitely oftentimes when there's so much In the news and just people always targeting us, it could be sometimes demoralizing. So just want to acknowledge how much we appreciate. I'll speak for myself, and I know Councilor Louijeune that we deeply care and are very grateful for the amount of time and energy that you all put into making sure people have access and I think that my colleagues that are not here today, hopefully they'll watch this and realize the important work that you all are doing. And sometimes things happen right? and it's all good to file a hearing order or an emergency this that or the other but at the end of the day, the real work happens when you fight for those dollars that help support you in doing your job better. And that is what

What we should be really measuring people's rhetoric on is how much money they fight for to make sure that these things don't happen again. And those are the things I'm gonna start paying attention to as we continue to have these conversations, so thank you for being here.

Thank you, Councilor Mejia. And I want to echo how just the Elections Department really is one of one and how hard everyone works which is why it was really unfortunate because people only pay attention or the cameras only come when something bad happens. And we never want there to be ballot shortages, we never someone to call and not get through but we know that more often than not, when people are calling they are getting through in that ballot. More often than non-ballot people are getting the ballots that they need. But just to piggyback off of that how were we ensuring that one of the issues was People couldn't reach City Hall. So what have we done to ensure that whenever there's a poll worker, anybody out in community or at a polling location when they need it? What are the communication chains now to make sure that city hall is always especially on Election Day accessible?

Carey helped make this happen, so I think

I think we have a secret cheat code with the friends up at Do It. The way that they come together to make sure that the right technology is kind of set up in place, and then again calling on our friends here in the building who staff these call centers You know, tapping in 311 and just... It's a really huge operation, and it gets underappreciated. But being able to work in advance to process the feedback, look at some of the issues that we identify in the clerk books, and then adjust our trainings accordingly You know, they don't have to call in the first place but then utilizing their technology to you know send out the communication alerts to make sure we know what's going on real time.

Speaking of and these are just some rapid-fire questions that I have. What are some We love the electronic poll books. I'm going to say that again, but what is a backup in case Wi-Fi goes out or in case there's some other issues? Easy, easy.

It's an easy question? Or don't speak into universe? I don't know which one. Knock on wood. Okay. So we still rely on the paper copies to make sure that we have a redundancy plan. The poll puts have been great, we continue to evaluate them. We can see energy level. We could see so many things with those devices I think that, and then on top of that, I believe the roving team who's circling the community on election day has backup so we can address them as they happen. So, we've learned a lot of lessons over the years and it shouldn't be understated I think that some of things that happened in the past We continue to learn from them and grow from them, and engage the community in the right way so that we can make a better experience for all.

Has there been any communication recently about anything pertinent that the body should be aware of, or do we feel like this will be the last election where we sort of have that designee relationship with the Secretary of State's office?

So as the commissioner mentioned, just our participation in the Secretary of State's hosted events, the conference that we attended last week is just one of those things that shows Even if they go away, we're still trying to make sure we're making the right relationship so that as things arise, you know, they can reach out and contact us. We haven't had the conversation as far as moving forward because we haven't hit that deadline just yet.

What is the deadline?

The end of the year.

So at that time, we'll have those conversations. Hopefully, we've done all that's necessary but will continue to capture that feedback and learn from the neighboring communities and set up the right protocols that continue to enforce the work that we already do.

Okay. Did the elections group review David C. King's 2007 blueprint?

Yes, they did.

And were the 2025 requests for the firm's contract and comparable city work answered? I think there were requests from 2025 for the firm's contract in comparable city work.

Oh, I will follow up with you afterwards, Councillor. We'll make sure we send materials.

All right. Thank you very much. Those are, I think the main questions that I have on my end I want to thank all of you. Oh, Councilor Mejia has additional questions.

Yeah, I was waiting for the second round. Okay. Three questions. Can you just please discuss how you distribute multilingual ballots to each polling location? Like, how do you determine how many and which sites get which languages? I'm going to assume that's like depending on the language spoken most, right? That's how you do it.

So there is a federal requirement for Vietnamese, and Chinese. There's a formula that we used based on surnames. That's what's prescribed by the federal government But we provide languages based on that formula. I think when we got calls from our poll workers on election day this past September, They said, some of the wardens said well the federal monitors are here and we're so proud of our language access because more than just providing the ballots in those languages We have interpreters on hand, we have our auto mark machines.

We go above and beyond the requirements for accessibility, and we'll continue to make efforts there.

Great. And police are often seen at polling sites and which one would believe that requires extra officers to be on duty that day, and likely require more overtime. So I'm just curious, could individuals like civilian flaggers or others play this role instead?

We'll take it under consideration. I don't know enough to say yes, I believe there's certain like Chain of custody pieces that might require it, but I could turn to Sabino who may have a...

I believe the city ordinance requires a Boston police officer to be stationed at the checkout table to monitor the checkout list.

So maybe we could update the ordinance and amend it so that we can reflect that. Maybe, I don't know. Maybe the legal eagles can advise us accordingly but who knows? I just think that the more pathways we can create for strengthening opportunities for other folks would be great so... I don't know, something worth looking into. And then what logistical and administrative issues does the election department struggle with the most? And then I'm just curious, can you please explain central tabulation and why the city does it the way that it does, especially with the way it posts unofficial election results online? Just if you could help. and many more.

Big Two Powder, I will address the first part here. In terms of logistical challenges hiring we aim for 2,000 poll workers and we Have to place them and train them all across the city. So that is always an ongoing challenge one thing I'd point out is that Should we ask the poll workers to do more? Should we want to implement new training then we have to schedule another training session for 2,000 people and it's paid. So $20 for a training across 2000 people. $20? That's it? Well, there's a stipend for working on Election Day and then you get paid per training. But no one does it to get rich. Wait, Commissioner, $20? $30 excuse me.

How long is the training?

Two-and-a-half to three hours.

I would increase that maybe to $50 or something. I don't know. We'll come see you for the next question. Listen, y'all. Like, I know for me, I'm always on a budget coming $20, $30 soon. come all the way down to City Hall. Is it virtual? You gotta be in here in person, too. That's parking you have to pay for. There's a lot of barriers that we're putting on people participating here. Listen, I'm not trying to change everything but I think there is some worth. Maybe y'all can do it in the districts and maybe y'al couldn't be the ones to go to where their people are at and train them there maybe do regional trainings and provide pizza.

No, I'm serious. I think that would be a big draw.

I know, I would show up. I'm getting fed and I don't have to get on the train to come to City Hall for two-and-a-half hours? I think we should change the way y'all do that. Imma put an ordinance for that as well. How you feel about that Sabino? Now, all jokes aside I really do believe as someone who's all about making sure that people participate not just in electoral politics but just in their own lives. I think the more we can do to make it Thank you.

So yes, we do. And it depends on whether you're new or returning poll worker, whether or not you've used the equipment before. We do have virtual options I would say in terms of the way that we do Central Tab, that's governed by state law. And so you know, that really is the driving force behind the way we run Central Tab. I think this past September is me, Sabino the election staff and Can I just add one other barrier that we do have?

And it was discussed in the previous panel is the census. We talk a lot about voters and voters coming out to vote, but people need to respond to the census that is a huge barrier that we have every year.

Yeah, I agree. I'll just say one last thing is that in regards...I know I was jokingly making reference to Getting folks more engaged. I think that some of the poll workers that have already been trained could take on some more leadership role and you can create like a little pipeline, and maybe they could help do some of

Have you been in our meetings, Councilor?

No.

We are doing that now.

Y'all are doing it now?

Yes.

That's great because what that does is gives them some leadership development and also They could do it in their own district, and they could host the training and lead it. And that could be another way to remove the barrier. So just more things that you can ask for more money and next year's budget to make it all happen. But yeah, I'm not going to give you all more things but if there's anything that I can do to be helpful please know that I'm here for all of it and thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Mejia. The one thing that I'll say and sorry we've entered the part of the chat where it's like just asking questions but Councilor me here did mention and I think I saw you do it Carrie and more visuals. And I think that would be really helpful. I saw you do a really great visual when it came to election day, it was early voting. Make sure we are propping up early voting as much as possible. But I think that would be more helpful, and we tend to rely heavily on social media, but also not everyone is on social medias. So we actually can't think that we're doing the job just because of what's happening on social Media so encourage us to think about other ways to connect with people I want to thank all of you. Sabino, you were my Chief of Staff Emily's first City Hall employee ever that she met and she just will always remember you giving such a great impression

of what it means to work for the city of Boston, yet she didn't work for this city of boston when she first met you and she's now been here. So that's something that she's imprinted on our mind so thank you for being a great representative of the city and of caring so deeply about our elections and making sure that they run as they should.

we have put out billboards as Carrie mentioned and we are on social media but should there be events that you think it's appropriate for the department to talk nonpartisanly about the election, please do let us know. We're available to you and would love to engage with the community.

Yeah, I think that would be great especially at our schools. Especially when you're talking about pre-registration at the age of 16, 17 so yeah, I will definitely think about that and I know my colleagues will as well. Think about how to integrate. I do see the department out in community We need to think about better ways of integrating that, centering you more. So yeah, thank you. Commissioner, we will take that into under advisement.

Councilor Louijeune, I just do want to mention that we do student registrations in all the high schools across the city usually starting in the month of January. Leading up until graduation day. Commissioner Rooney leads that effort and she gathers many, many registrations from pre-registrants up until students that can vote in the upcoming elections

So what does that look like, actually? Is the election department going into schools and there are tables with registration drives?

Yes. We meet with the leaders of the schools. They inform the parents of the students that this is happening so that they have the proper materials like the previous panel has said, they don't have their last digits of this social. They don't an ID. They're ready to go and they're ready sign up the day that we are there to have these events. Certain schools obviously have a bigger turnout and more participation than other students because of their population, but they all Welcome us throughout the year to register folks. Not only are we doing that, but we also have a student poll worker program where students in BPS do become poll workers for the state election. I believe last November we had close to 75 poll workers that were students. It's a paid position, they can work Thank you for joining us.

So we're going to use parental agreement and school advisement from them. So that system is already in place, and we have been doing that for months.

And Sabino, just out of curiosity what portion proportion of our election department staff are former student poll workers?

That's a good question because some of our part-time staff are student poll workers that are willing to come in and help During elections, during our census season and we're willing to do more to participate in elections. So we have been in the communities try to do this and will continue to do

Thank you. I also encourage you, I mean, I don't know if it's you or if it is the schools to make sure that they're working with like the student government body or whatever the name is I think it's called different things in different schools, but...

It's a collaboration with us and the school department to do this together.

And so I just hope that the school department is not it's not just an adult run thing, but they're also engaging the students who would be most inclined to lead on this as well. So awesome. Well thank you so much to this panel we really respect the work that you do They're always growing pains and changes, and sometimes we take learning opportunities as what they are to improve. So really grateful for you. I know we didn't talk about it but I know that this is an election department that would be ready to implement Election Day voter registration Should it be passed on the ballot and implemented for 2028, we feel good about that?

We believe in our ability to implement any law that's passed.

And I believe in your ability to do that as well. Thank you very much and enjoy the rest of your Friday. Thank you. We have one more person signed up for public testimony, I'm not sure Shane if there's anyone virtually? There's no one virtually. We have one more person signed up for public testimony, and that is someone who's no stranger here, Ed Shoemaker from Voter Choice Massachusetts in Dorchester. Ed you have the floor and you have two minutes. and a former commissioner. That's why I said no stranger to this, anyone?

Yes, I know it's like 80 degrees out on a Friday so I know we all wanna head for the exit but I quickly wanted to thank the staff for keeping the lights on Thank the Councilor for all of your great work that you've done with Ranked Choice Voting Home Rule Petition and for Democracy. VoterChoice Massachusetts endorses the Question Yes on 4 Election Day Registration as somebody who's done a lot Voter registration, I've been consistently frustrated on move-in day where you try to register people to vote who just moved or entered the city and they are now unable to participate in the upcoming election. Very critical with the election actually happening on September 1st, which was the actual moving day, which is very frustrating for a lot of folks moving into the city. This is America, right? We engage in democracy. We engage civic engagement. You should be able to vote. You shouldn't have this arbitrary sort of rule that deems you and otherwise eligible voter ineligible.

So other than that, I want to say that I thank everything that the council's been working on. Love being in the same room as Sabino had a great time working with Paul, very thoughtful when it came to the work of the Home Rule Petition for Ranked Choice Voting. Heard nothing but good words about Kerry being retweeted from a lot of respected colleagues so I feel like I've already met the man and I know he'll do great work here for the City of Boston, but that's it. Actually no one more thing sorry I lied trying to be quick here The hearing order for the support of the home rule petition that got filed in Boston, I know that's in committee. If there is a way we could resurrect that and pass it It would go a long way towards the efforts at the State House, which is always a lot of work. But we're trying to Thank you.

Ed reminded me of something, so I'm not going to let you go just yet. We did talk about the—we didn't talk about how it affects Boston, the census, the municipal Decoupling that with the voter roll. Just thoughts on that, because I think what have we seen? Has there been a problem in Boston and what should we do about it?

I just want to be careful because we are not policy makers, but I will say that the process is administratively Very time-consuming and resource intensive to mail every household in the city twice, to send out the inactivation notices to respond to those. There is a tremendous amount of time and energy that's put into managing that process.

I'm trying to read between any lines there. So, I understand why it's important for the city to do the municipal census I do, I want us to get an accurate count. But we are seeing that it can be disenfranchising to voters and we know that even when there are attempts made like... I'm not gonna tell you what my response rate is to my mail even though I am someone who physically loves Checking the Mail, Let's Ask My Staff. There still are sometimes barriers in time as to responding. So I'm wondering, is it worth that? Even the effort that we're putting out to then the potential of disenfranchising a voter?

No.

Thank you. Thanks, everyone. There are formal things that I need to read in order to adjourn this hearing that I will now put away. But I am really grateful. This was a really thought-provoking and educational hearing for me and I know for my colleagues as well So thank you to my colleagues for being here. Thank you to Councilor Mejia for sticking it out and still being here with us. We know that the work is going to continue, and we know that all of you will continue that work. We will be asking for a vote on Docket 1805 in support of Question 4, Election Day registration voting. And we will hold the docket 0183 in committee so we can continue to call you into chambers when we have questions and want to think about are we doing everything we can on voter accessibility and increasing access to democracy for our residents of the city of Boston to make sure that we're not

turning the doors on democracy, on any of our working class voters, voters of color, renters, people who are less likely to interact with government and government offices. We want to make sure we are increasing who is part of our democracy, especially in these frightening federal times. And we know that we as a city, we are all up for the task. So thank you for all the incredible work that you do this hearing on dockets number 0183 and docket number 1805 is adjourned.

Thank you.