SECRETARY OF STATE William Galvin said Tuesday that Boston’s election operations have improved under state receivership and that the state’s intervention in Lawrence was necessary to preserve the integrity of the voting process amid allegations of absentee ballot manipulation.
Speaking after casting his vote in Brighton, Galvin said both cities were under close supervision by his office as municipal elections unfold in 55 cities and towns across Massachusetts.
Galvin said early indications show the Boston Election Department “on a good path” following a year of reforms prompted by serious ballot distribution failures during the 2024 general election.
“We’ve had a lot of activity over the past year. We’ve improved practices,” he said. “Mr. [Michael] Sullivan, the receiver, is very satisfied.”
Boston’s elections have been under state receivership since February, when Galvin ordered outside oversight after some polling places ran out of ballots last November. His office required the city to overhaul communication systems, retrain poll workers and adopt new procedures for monitoring ballot supply and machine issues in real time.
“The lesson learned is when you have good practices, you have good results,” Galvin said, adding that the city’s polling locations were operating smoothly and that no major issues had been reported.
He said his office would evaluate whether to end the receivership after the election, and that his office has “other places to deal with as well.”
In Lawrence, state observers and State Police have been stationed at polling sites following reports that campaign workers had submitted incomplete or falsified absentee ballot applications. Galvin said the state’s involvement was prompted by “processes that raised red flags” rather than by concerns about early or mail voting itself.
“We did have applications filed by campaigns and they were not completed entirely by the voters,” Galvin said. “There wasn’t sufficient information from the voters to identify who they were and to make sure they really wanted an early or absentee ballot.”
A University of Massachusetts/WCVB poll released Monday found 61 percent of respondents support requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote, with 21 percent against it.
He said that after warnings and an information session with candidates failed to correct the practices, his office dispatched state troopers and election officials from other communities to oversee the process for every day of early voting from Oct. 25 through Oct. 31, and on Election Day.
Galvin said his office rejected incomplete, altered or incorrectly filled out ballot applications submitted by campaigns and increased its physical presence in the city to support local election workers. A campaign can submit absentee ballot applications that they have collected from voters, his spokesperson said, but in Lawrence “it became clear that some voters were either unaware that they had applied for an absentee ballot or did not qualify to vote absentee.”
“Any voter whose application was rejected was notified of the rejection and the reason for rejection, and encouraged to contact the Lawrence Elections Division to discuss their voting options. All of this has taken place over the last few weeks. The official written Order from the Secretary was sent on October 16, with an additional Order on October 27,” spokesperson Deb O’Malley said.
“We needed to make sure we were physically present there to provide support for the local election officials,” Galvin said. “The State Police were present and observing conduct because we saw continuing conduct from campaigns that we felt was not in the best interest of the voters.”
He said any decision about criminal charges would rest with the attorney general or district attorney.
“Obviously, we’re observing everything we see,” Galvin said. “If there’s conduct to be investigated, that’ll be up to the attorney general and the district attorney, who have both been participants in our efforts up to now.”
In Boston, Galvin said state election staff are stationed inside City Hall on Tuesday but not at individual precincts because “there’s no need of it.” He said communication systems and ballot management procedures had improved significantly since last year’s failures.
“We’re very comfortable,” Galvin said.
Asked about outside interference, Galvin said his office had seen no indication of it.
“No, no, we feel pretty good,” he said. “My office is in regular contact with [poll workers]. We have people on the ground here… The goal here, again, is elections are about voters. It’s not about campaigns. It’s not about candidates.”
Galvin projected that voter turnout would vary widely across the state, noting that many communities had uncontested races.
“Many communities don’t have a lot of contests, Boston being one of them,” he said. “That’s why the turnout in Boston will be relatively low for a mayoral election year.”
Voting reform bills enabling people to register and cast ballots during early voting or on Election Day has failed to advance again this year, despite significant support for the idea among some lawmakers and in polling.
The deadline to register to vote is 10 days before any election.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is running unopposed after her primary opponent, Josh Kraft, dropped out after Wu outpolled him 72 percent to 23 percent in the primary.
Galvin, a Boston resident, said his own ballot was rejected from the machine a few times because there were so few dark circles on it, as there are not many races in the city this year.
He said turnout would likely be stronger in cities with competitive races, such as Everett, Fall River, Lawrence, Taunton and Worcester.
“All of those communities, I think, will have a fairly decent turnout,” he said, pointing to already strong participation in vote-by-mail and early voting.
Galvin said early voting continues to be popular and effective.
“We’re seeing very high participation at these levels, and it’s very helpful to voters to have multiple options to vote so they’re not restricted just for the hours on election day,” he said. “It shows that voters are serious about these things.”
Galvin, now in his eighth term as secretary, said the day’s goals are straightforward: “The objective today is for the voters to make a choice” he said. “Whatever choice they make is their choice. It shouldn’t be anybody else’s, but theirs.”