City tries to build voter turnout

The city of Boston plans an all-out drive to allow voter registration on Election Day, and will launch aggressive voter drives among new Bostonians and high school students in an effort to boost turnout in the minority and non-English-speaking communities, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said last week.

Same-day registration, which would require approval from the Legislature, was among the major reforms recommended in a task force report that was commissioned by the mayor and made available to The Boston Globe.

In other states, the system has boosted voter participation by as much as 15 percent.

The task force also recommended that the city consider a weekend voting system, giving voters two or more days to cast their ballots.

But Menino, in an interview, said that he preferred to encourage voters who find it inconvenient to vote on the actual day of the election to file absentee ballots. Menino appointed the task force last year to examine the city's voting system after the US Department of Justice accused Boston of violating the rights of Hispanic and Asian-American voters and of ``improperly influencing, coercing, or ignoring the ballot choices" of voters who were not proficient in English.

Menino had initially vowed to fight the suit in court; he later forged a pact with the Justice Department that settled the case.

The agreement included allowing federal oversight of city elections and implementing changes, such as an increase in the number of interpreters at the city's polling places.

The task force submitted its report to the mayor in April.

In response, Menino said the city is laying plans for new voter-registration drives, particularly among voting-age Boston high school students, and will aggressively recruit more poll workers who speak multiple languages, and embark on a public relations campaign to increase visibility of city election efforts in key neighborhoods.

``We have to do more outreach to get voters to register, but we also have to do more to get them to vote," Menino said.

The mayor added: ``There are all kinds of ways we can encourage people to vote, make it easier for them to come to the polls, and make their decisions."

Of same-day registration and encouraging absentee balloting, Menino said, ``I'm in favor of both of those issues."

He did not speak in favor of having weekend elections, or of another task force proposal that would create an instant runoff in which voters would rank their top three choices. Such a tally would be used to avoid the time and expense of a full runoff election.

Secretary of State William F. Galvin said yesterday that Boston could implement same-day registration through a home-rule petition in the Legislature.

But he also said that his office is working on a statewide proposal that would allow all voters in Massachusetts to register on the same day as a scheduled election. Galvin's proposal still needs legislative approval.

Galvin also said, however that he hoped that same-day registration would be in place in time for the Nov. 7 elections.

Currently, voters have to register at least 20 days before an election. Under the new proposal, voters would be allowed to register on the day of an election by providing a proof of identity and residency.

``Too often, especially in our diverse, urban communities, registration forms fall through the cracks as they make their way from voter to Election Department," the task force report said. ``This results in voters who think they are registered, but do not find out until they are at the polls that they are ineligible to cast a ballot."

In a survey conducted at polling places in 2004, MassVOTE found that 9 percent of voters were not able to cast ballots.

Currently, six states allow same-day registration; they are New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Voter participation in those states is between 5 percent and 15 percent higher than in other states.

The task force also suggests hiring more bilingual poll workers by advertising in ethnic publications, paying them more to work on any election day, and allowing them to work split shifts rather than a full 13-hour day. The city implemented some of those changes during last November's elections, and city officials said they are planning to keep them in place for future elections.

The city in March also hired an election language coordinator, Helen Wong .

Later this month, Wong said, the city is planning to appoint several ``language liaisons" who speak Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The liaisons will be charged with recruiting other multilingual poll workers and with increasing voter turnout among minorities.

One of the other proposals involves visiting high schools and getting students who are 18 to register to vote. City officials are also talking with the school district about making it part of the curriculum for voting-age students to work a three-hour shift at one of the polls, according to Michael Kineavy , the city's chief of policy and planning.

Menino met with the task force on May 26 and on Tuesday the mayor's office sent out a news release to weekly newspapers acknowledging the meeting.

Some task force members said they were surprised at how receptive the mayor was to their report.

``There is definite action, and there's positive energy," said Giovanna Negretti , a task force member and executive director of the Massachusetts Latino Political Organization, or ¿Oíste?. ``All of this is very surprising, truth be told."

The task force also praised the city for work it did during the 2005 election cycle. Almost 1,500 poll workers were trained, 384 of whom were multilingual; ballots and election materials at all polling locations were translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese; and the city established a phone bank so that voters who do not speak English could get help.

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.