Audit says cuts left Election Dept. unfit

A consultant's audit of the Boston Election Department has found that years of understaffing and underfunding have left the department incapable of consistently conducting elections properly.

Even as the demands on election workers increased because of federal voting rights legislation, the city continued to cut the department's budget, forcing it to operate with a skeleton staff and outdated tools, according to the audit conducted by David King, an elections specialist at Harvard University.

The city will not be able to run elections effectively unless it overhauls the department, reclassifying jobs to create clear areas of responsibility and committing to a "sustained investment in personnel and training" that would increase the size of the department's staff by more than a third, King said in a 12-page draft of his conclusions released to the Globe.

"There is no effective system for internal training. There is no common library where up-to-date reference materials about election laws are maintained. The computer systems are antiquated and poorly maintained, and even the phone system is out of date," King said in his draft.

The audit was commissioned by Mayor Thomas M. Menino last fall after years of mounting problems culminated with dozens of polling places running out of ballots during November's election. The shortages prompted Secretary of State William F. Galvin to say that he would appoint an overseer for future elections.

King analyzed city voting records and election laws, and interviewed 59 current and former employees of the Election Department as well as voting rights advocates from Boston neighborhoods. For six weeks, he worked out of an office in the department.

City officials said the mayor, who was briefed on the findings last week, was "delighted" with the report and plans to implement many of the recommendations.

"It's helped us to see what was wrong; and it's also really creating a vision for what the department could be," said Patricia A. Canavan, an adviser to the mayor and liaison to King during the audit. The mayor has authorized the hiring of three additional employees and the upgrading of computers and telephones in the department, she said. More hires could come later.

Since 2000, the Menino administration has slashed the Election Department staff from an equivalent of 50 full-time employees to 20, the report says. Staffers were stretched so thin that they could not recruit enough poll workers in 2003 and did not train them properly, King said.

At the same time, additional requirements in the 2002 Help America Vote Act meant employees needed training and voting technologies needed updating.

"The Boston Election Department has not adjusted to keep pace," King wrote.

King said the department must hire at least eight full-time employees, including an election-law specialist, as soon as possible. King also recommended that the city appoint new members to the Boston Election Commission, a four-member panel charged under city law with independent oversight of department operations. He said the board had been steadily diluted over the years as weak members were installed who would not challenge management of the department.

"Today, the board has essentially ceased to function as an independent oversight body," King said in his draft report, adding that a strong and independent body is essential to the department's ongoing performance.

The department also needs to institute comprehensive and ongoing training for employees and upgrade equipment, including a phone system that currently doesn't allow transfers within the department.

The Boston Election Department has been plagued by problems for several years. The secretary of state reprimanded the city in 2003 in a six-page letter saying candidates were allowed to campaign too close to polls and voters were not allowed sufficient privacy when they cast their ballots. Some voters said that poorly trained poll workers coerced them into voting for certain candidates.

A lawsuit brought by the US Justice Department later accused the city of violating the rights of voters with limited English skills by failing to provide enough interpreters and election materials in foreign languages in 2003 and 2004. To settle the suit, Menino eventually agreed to oversight by the Justice Department of elections through 2008.

The mayor replaced Election Department chairwoman Nancy Lo in 2004, and in 2005 he convened an advisory election committee composed of community leaders and voting rights advocates.

But problems continued. In a primary last September, election workers overlooked thousands of votes for a state Senate seat. Results were delayed until a public counting of the votes several days later. Last November, 38 precincts ran out of ballots, leaving voters in at least five of them waiting for more than an hour. Many frantic calls to the Election Department at City Hall were met with busy signals due to a limited number of phone lines.

In recent months, election officials have initiated some reforms, including advertising for applicants to fill three previously vacant full-time positions, holding weekly meetings to help improve communication in the department, and purchasing larger ballot boxes to allow for the transport of enough ballots for 100 percent of registered voters, the report says.

King is scheduled to release his report and testify at a City Council hearing at 2 p.m. today.

On April 17, the department will conduct a special preliminary election to fill the council seat vacated by the late James M. Kelly. It will be the first election since the debacle in November.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.