By Adam Swift
Voting will return to the Jack Satter House this fall.
At Monday night’s City Council meeting, Election Commissioner Paul Fahey updated the council on recent developments in the Election Department, and addressed concerns raised by several of the councillors.
Chief among the concerns from Ward 5 Councillor John Powers was the status of the Jack Satter House on Revere Beach Boulevard as a polling location.
“When the redistricting was done, prior to my coming on board, the Jack Satter House, Precinct 5-1A was eliminated because there was no legal requirement to have a 51-A relative to the legislative district ,†said Fahey. “We made the decision that 5-1 and the Point of Pines neighborhood to the north and the area around the Jack Satter to the south to use the Pines neighborhood but to do the early voting initiative at the Jack Satter House.â€
Fahey said the City Council did file successful state legislation to return voting to the Satter House. He said the election department has reconfigured its system to include the 5-1A precinct, which will be similar to its previous configuration.
Fahey said it is definite that the 5-1A precinct will vote at the Satter House, and there is also the possibility that it could be the polling location for Precinct 5-2.
Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna also requested that there be improved signage and lighting for voting at the Beachmont School. She said during the 2022 state election there was a digital sign directing voters to the school, but once they were inside, they still didn’t know where to go.
“We really need signs down there, we need more lighting, too, but it’s far in the gym and we need to direct people,†said McKenna.
Fahey said there will likely be a request in the 2024 budget for improved signage for inside the Beachmont School and other polling locations in the city. He said the city also has some lighting issues in a few of the polling locations it has to work to improve.
Councillor-at-Large Dan Rizzo asked Fahey about the possibility of the election department issuing a receipt to voters when it receives their vote by mail ballots.
Fahey said that would be a challenge for the department, since the mail-in voting numbers have grown by a significant amount over the past several years.
However, Fahey said voters are welcomed to call the election office to check on the status of their ballots. He noted that there is also a link on the state election website where voters can track their ballots. Fahey said he would add that link to the city’s website.
Monday night, the council also approved setting Tuesday, Sept. 19 as the preliminary election date for the 2023 municipal election. Fahey said that vote would set the dates for the rest of the election calendar in motion.
