Boston councilors conclude it's too early to ask the state to put the city election department into receivership

The City Council today rejected a resolution by Councilors Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) and Erin Murphy (at large) calling on the state to take over the city election department because of Election Day problems that included numerous precincts across the city running out of ballots.

Councilors who opposed the measure said they want to give election officials a chance to formally respond to the complaints first - at a hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. at Dec. 6 - before asking for such a drastic step. And they noted that the Secretary of State's office is currently conducting its own investigation into what went wrong in Boston on Nov. 5.

Among those voting against the proposed resolution was Councilor John FitzGerald (Dorchester) who said he wants to hear from election officials first even though "the fact of the matter is the Election Department screwed up pretty bad, right, and throughout the city."

"It seems to be a bit abrupt and hostile to just go into state receivership," Councilor Julia Mejia (at large) said.

Flynn asked for immediate passage of the resolution despite the scheduling of a formal hearing next month. That prompted Councilor Benjamin Weber (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury) to ask why Flynn was insistent on holding up funds for "lead paint hazard reduction" until after a hearing was held "but we would not need a hearing on whether or not to send a city department into state receivership."

Flynn said the difference was he was proposing a non-binding resolution, not a formal hearing.

Councilors Breadon, Durkan, FitzGerald, Pepén, Santana, Weber and Worrell voted against the resolution. Flynn and Murphy voted yes. Coletta Zapata, Fernandes Anderson, Louijeune and Mejia voted "present."

Earlier in the meeting, Flynn lost votes, both by 12-1, to block acceptance of federal grants that would go to renovating facilities used as emergency shelters for undocumented immigrants, because, he said, he wanted to have hearings on them first.