With plans, extra ballots in place, officials await flood
While the prospect of huge voter turnout today may seem healthy for American democracy, it is making elections workers nervous.
Officials in Boston and across Massachusetts were bracing yesterday for a massive onslaught at the polls. They have prepared by delivering extra ballots to precincts, deploying extra workers to polling places and voter hotline call centers, and encouraging voters to show up at off-peak hours.
Secretary of State William F. Galvin predicted that more than 3 million people will cast ballots today, which would be 71 percent of registered voters and a million more residents than voted in the 2004 presidential election.
"We have more registered voters, we've had sustained interest throughout the year, and we had record turnouts in both parties' primaries," Galvin said in an interview yesterday.
All that, he said, points to a looming turnout tsunami.
In Boston, election officials have sent every precinct enough ballots for 115 percent of the registered voters, a defensive move they expect will eliminate the 2006 snafu in which voters at several precincts had to wait while additional ballots were delivered midday. The city will have 1,800 people working the polls, 200 more than in previous elections, and will also have staff rotating through a new 25-line call center.
Galvin said communities throughout the state have been encouraged to conduct voting in the most spacious location at each precinct, which means people who are used to voting in a classroom at their neighborhood school may be voting in the cafeteria today, he said.
Both Galvin and Boston's election commissioner, Geraldine Cuddyer, said voters should be able to avoid the longest lines by showing up between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. But no matter what time voters show up, they should anticipate lines.
Avi Green, executive director of an advocacy group, MassVOTE, advised patience.
"Our forebears fought for our right to vote and we may have to wait for it," he said. "That's just par for the course."
Election officials also plan to have more staff than usual throughout Boston's Second Suffolk District in the state Senate to count write-in and sticker votes, even though Senator Dianne Wilkerson has called off her reelection campaign in light of federal bribery charges against her. Many supporters have said they still plan to write in the 15-year incumbent's name. Sonia Chang-Diaz, who beat Wilkerson in the Democratic primary, and Socialist Workers Party candidate William Theodore Leonard will be the only names on the ballot.
Boston officials have moved three polling locations, one in Mattapan and two in South Boston. A broken elevator at Mattapan's Metropolitan Baptist Church, which served Precincts 12 and 13 of Ward 14, prompted officials to move the polls to the Berea Seventh-day Adventist Academy, at 800 Morton St.
The city already had changed 20 polling locations just before the September primary, so thousands of Boston voters will be voting in unfamiliar locations, albeit places that election officials contend are more spacious and accessible.
Election workers will be stationed at many of the old locations to direct voters to their new polling locations, and signs have been posted at the old locations informing voters of the changes, said Cuddyer.
She also had a suggestion to help speed up lines - know how you're voting before you face the ballot choices in the voting booth.
"Don't wait until you get to the booth to decide you're going to read the ballot questions," Cuddyer said, referring to issues related to the state income tax, marijuana laws, and dog-racing on the ballot this year. "With all the activity, I don't think you can give the question a good reading with what will be going on at the polls."
Galvin was fretting yesterday over a point of possible confusion on the ballot this year. He said voters should remember to check both sides of the sheet. Questions 2 and 3 will be on the back of ballots in Boston, where the text is longer to accommodate the bilingual versions.
Galvin said he believed a law Governor Deval Patrick recently signed, allowing voters who changed their address within the last 18 months to cast partial ballots at their old polling locations, should reduce the number of provisional ballots cast. Provisional ballots, which are set aside and counted later if the voter's eligibility is confirmed, require extra paperwork and slow down the lines at polling locations, he said.
"If you come in from Mars on a spaceship, we have to give you a provisional ballot, but in all probability it won't be counted," he said.
One final piece of advice: Get to the polling location on time. While anyone in line when the polls close at 8 p.m. will be allowed to cast a ballot, election officials have been instructed to station a police officer to mark the end of the line.
One thing city officials are not so far expecting is overexuberance or anger from residents based on the winner of today's election, the first in which a major party has a black candidate contending for the presidency. Officials in some big cities have said they are beefing up security in case the election result leads to riots or other unruly behavior.
"We don't have any indication from our various intelligence sources that would indicate any specific activity to brace for," said Elaine Driscoll, spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department. "We recognize the historic significance of this election, therefore we will be deploying additional officers so that we are prepared in the event we have to respond to an emergency."
John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com. 