Feds to stop monitoring Boston elections

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

The US Justice Department will stop monitoring Boston's elections, three years after it sued the city for failing to accommodate voters with limited English skills, removing a layer of scrutiny of a department beset by criticism.

But Secretary of State William F. Galvin said today he has not decided whether he will end state oversight of the city's election commission, saying he wants assurances that improvements will be maintained in how votes are counted and ballots are delivered to polling places.

Voting-rights groups largely praised the city's handling of the November election, issuing a joint statement saying problems at the polls were resolved promptly by city officials. Observers from local advocacy groups, Galvin's office, and the Justice Department watched that election closely, because it followed a pair of election cycles in which Boston officials were accused of hampering some citizens' ability to vote.

In a Dec. 23 letter to William Sinnott, the city's corporation counsel, Justice Department officials said the agency was satisfied with the city's changes.

"The dramatic increases in the number of bilingual poll workers, combined with the city's poll worker language training and translation of election materials, has led to an equally dramatic decline in the mistreatment of minority voters that marred elections prior to the agreement," said the letter, signed by Jared M. Slade, an attorney with the voting section of the Justice Department's civil rights division.

Boston Election Commissioner Geraldine Cuddyer said the city had worked hard to meet the terms of its monitoring agreement with the Justice Department.

"We've made lots of inroads and alliances with communities, particularly communities with limited-English-speaking voters," Cuddyer said in an interview today. "I'm very gratified to see the Justice Department pleased with the progress we've made."

The department sued the city in July 2005, accusing it of violating the federal Voting Rights Act by "improperly influencing, coercing, or ignoring" the ballot choices of Hispanic and Asian-American voters who spoke limited English, disrespecting those voters at the polls, and failing to provide adequate translation services. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino initially scoffed at the lawsuit, saying there was no evidence the city had violated minority voting rights in the 2004 election. City officials later agreed to federal monitoring of elections through 2008, additional training for poll workers, and an increase in bilingual poll workers.

Separately from the federal probe, Galvin took over oversight of the city election commission following the 2006 election after the city failed to deliver enough ballots to several minority precincts, leading to long lines for voters. Under the guidance of an independent election observer, the city has changed its procedures for delivering ballots to precincts, no longer hoarding most of them at City Hall for delivery during Election Day. In response to other concerns from Galvin's office, the city added poll workers, moved some polling locations, and changed its procedures for counting write-in ballots.

But Galvin said the jury is still out on the extent of the city's progress despite his satisfaction with its handling of the 2008 election. Galvin sent a letter to Cuddyer this week seeking a meeting to discuss permanent voting procedures that would allow the state to end its oversight.

"We don't want Boston to fall back into the problems we saw before," Galvin said in an interview. "And I'm not leaving until I'm satisfied with that."

Cuddyer, who has been on vacation this week, said she will contact Galvin's office Monday to set up a meeting. "My preference is to run my department without oversight from the secretary's office, as would be anybody's preference," she said.

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