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Polls across the city will be open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. in the city’s 275 voting precincts. While Mayor Michelle Wu is running unopposed, most of the City Council races are contested.
While Mayor Michelle Wu is no longer facing a challenger, the municipal election Tuesday will determine the Boston City Council’s four at-large seats and the contested district seats. Here’s everything voters need to know about heading to the polls Tuesday.
Polls across the city will be open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. across the 275 voting precincts. Printed ballots will be available in English and Spanish, English and Chinese, and English and Vietnamese, the city said, and poll workers can provide assistance in those languages, as well as Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean, Russian, and Portuguese.
The city said 32,737 of the 51,769 mailed ballots have been returned, and the voters can return their ballots to the 22 drop boxes or at City Hall before 8 p.m. on Tuesday. These ballots cannot be accepted at polling places, the city said.
Mail-in voters can track the status of their ballots on the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s website, and residents can also check their voter registration status on the same website before voting.
The only polling location that has been changed is in Ward 3, or the West End. Voters in Precinct 9 will now vote at the West End Neighborhood Center on Blossom Court.
Voters can track their ballot through the state’s website here. If there is no movement indicated in the “Track My Ballot” system, voters should plan to vote in person on Election Day at their assigned precinct. Voters can check their polling location/status here.
Who’s on the ballot?
Wu will be at the top of the ballot, but her main opponent Josh Kraft bowed out of the race after she outperformed him by nearly 50 points in September’s preliminary election.
Many of the races for Boston City Council are contested, some closely. The eight candidates for the four at-large seats include the four incumbents, three newcomers, and one former city councilor.
In the preliminary election, Wu-alum Henry Santana came in fourth place with 12.51 percent of the vote, while former City Councilor Frank Baker trailed him with 10.79% of the at-large votes.
Boston.com reached out to every candidate in a contested race to find out why they are running and how they hope to shape the City Council. All at-large candidates submitted their responses, as did many of the district-specific candidates. Clink the links below to read through each of them.
Candidates for four at-large city councilor seats:
Erin Murphy (Read Q&A here)
Will Onuoha (Read Q&A here)
Henry Santana (Read Q&A here)
Marvin Mathelier (Read Q&A here)
Alexandra Valdez (Read Q&A here)
Ruthzee Louijeune (Read Q&A here)
Julia Mejia (Read Q&A here)
Frank Baker (Read Q&A here)
Candidates for district city councilor:
Residents can find out which district they live in here.
Note: Councilor John FitzGerald is running unopposed in District 3, and Councilor Sharon Durkan is running unopposed in District 8.
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