Mass. says it will take control of city voting

The Boston Globe reports:

Secretary of State William F. Galvin declared yesterday that he will seize control of the Boston Election Department because the city has repeatedly demonstrated an inability to conduct fair and smooth elections.

The extraordinary move followed reports that the city ran out of ballots Tuesday at about 30 precincts in Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, and East Boston, heavily minority areas where voters turned out in droves to support Deval L. Patrick for governor.

City officials acknowledged they have a policy of distributing only enough ballots for 50 percent of registered voters at each polling place and then delivering more ballots from City Hall as they are needed.

Officials said the longstanding practice saves time and effort. There had been little reason to change it, they said, because ballots have not run out in the past. But the policy apparently resulted in shortages Tuesday night, when Election Department drivers got stuck in traffic and the city was forced to speed surplus ballots to the polls in police cruisers.

Is Karl Rove behind this?