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From YouTube: Commissioners Corner - Dion Irish, Elections Department
Description
For the 2016 election, the City of Boston has implemented early voting for the first time ever. From Monday, October 24th to Friday, November 4th, Boston residents can vote early at any designated early voting location around the City, including City Hall. On this episode of Commissioners Corner, host Najya Mawasi sits down with Dion Irish, Elections Department commissioner for the City of Boston, to let Boston residents know how they can cast their ballot between now and Election Day on November 8th.
A
Register
to
vote-
that's
been
the
catchphrase
for
several
months
now
in
the
streets
in
our
homes,
in
our
various
social
networking
sites,
mayor
Marty,
Walsh
in
Boston's
elections,
commissioner
Dion
Irish
have
been
saying
it
too.
They
have
implemented
a
plan
that
encourages
your
participation
in
various
ways
to
guarantee
a
secure
election
process.
For
the
first
time,
the
city
of
Boston
has
launched
an
early
voters
website
and
the
opportunity
for
you
to
vote
outside
of
your
district,
so
you
registered
to
vote.
What's
next,
commissioner
irish
is
here
with
us
today.
He
will
answer
that
question.
A
In
a
moment,
he'll
also
tell
us
about
what
the
department
is
doing
to
help
us
throughout
this
year's
election
process.
Commissioner,
irish
oversees
the
election
department,
which
conducts
all
municipal
state
and
federal
elections
within
the
city
of
boston,
commissioner
iris,
has
served
as
executive
director
of
the
city's
Office
of
Fair
Housing
and
equity.
Irish
was
responsible
for
the
leadership
in
supervision
of
Boston's
anti-discrimination
enforcement
agency,
which
includes
the
Fair
Housing
and
Human
Rights
Commission's
Commissioner
iris.
Thank
you
so
much
for.
A
A
B
My
responsibility
is
to
ensure
that
we
have
smooth
and
clean
elections.
We
have
over
400,000
registered
voters
and
255
voting
precincts,
so
my
job
is
to
ensure
that
we're
fully
staffed
we're
ready
to
allow
our
voters
to
exercise
their
rights
to
vote
on
Election
Day.
We
maintained
of
the
voter
database
make
sure
us
up-to-date
and
accurate,
and
we
also
conduct
a
census
each
year
of
this
old
city
residents,
who
are
aged
17
years
and
older.
B
That
way,
then
we
also
promote
online
responses
and
our
last
phase
is
we
actually
go:
do
the
door
from
May
to
August
for
folks
who
didn't
respond
to
the
census,
so
we
could
go
out
and
physically
count
them
and
and
have
as
accurate
of
account
as
possible,
and
it's
really
helpful
for
the
city
to
know
what
our
current
population
size
is
and
in
order
for
us
to
effectively
deliver
services,
and
we
also
provide
a
list
each
year
to
the
state
jury
Commissioner.
So
what
it
does
is
ensures.
B
B
For
the
upcoming
election,
what's
different
is
we
know
presidential
elections.
We
generally
see
a
larger
turnout,
so
we're
planning
for
a
higher
volume
of
voters,
but
the
major
difference
is
that
we're
gonna
implement
early
voting
for
the
first
time
in
the
city
of
Boston.
So
that's
that's
huge
and
we're
very
excited
about
that.
We're
not
the
first
to
do
this.
B
Obviously
more
than
half
of
the
states
in
the
United
States
are
already
implementing
early
voting,
so
we're
joining
you
know
those
waters,
but
what
it
does
is
it
recognizes
that
restricting
voting
to
one
day
may
not
serve
all
of
our
voters.
You
know
equally,
some
folks
are
working
two
or
three
jobs
or
they
work
in
jobs
that
may
not
allow
them
to
vote
on
Election
Day.
They
may
not
qualify
to
vote
three
absentee
process.
B
You
have
persons
with
disabilities
who,
on
a
particular
dick
that
their
disability
could
flare
up
and
cause
them
to
be
unable
to
get
to
the
polls
so
through
just
having
more
days.
In
order
for
you
to
cast
your
vote,
which
still
gets
counted
on
Election
Day
itself,
but
just
having
a
wider
window
provides
more
access
to
voters
and
I
think
makes
democracy
stronger.
The.
B
That's
the
best
interesting
as
well,
because
you
know
we're
accustomed
to
go
into
an
assigned
precinct
based
on
your
address,
where
only
your
ballot
is
there
based
on
your
address
and
that's
where
you
vote
well
for
early
voting,
we're
changing.
All
of
that,
any
voter
can
vote
in
any
one
of
our
early
voting
sites,
you're
not
restricted
to
one
in
your
neighborhood.
Are
you
in
your
city,
council
district?
B
You
could
vote
through
in
Boston,
you
can
vote
through
the
early
voting
process
and
that's
we'd
have
a
schedule
of
lots
of
locations
which
we'll
talk
about,
but
you
can
also
vote
early
by
mail
and
you
can.
Another
way
to
vote
is
through
the
absentee
process.
For
folks
who
are
not
going
to
be
in
the
city
on
Election
Day
qualify
based
on
a
religious
or
medical
reason.
They
can
vote
through
the
absentee
process
and
the
ultimate
and
final
way
to
vote
is
to
vote
on
Election
Day,
which
this
year
is
November
8th,.
A
B
It's
different
so
on
it
on
Election
Day
will
have
255
precincts
in
about
170
different
buildings.
We
do
have
multiple
precincts
in
some
buildings
and
every
every
voter
is
notified
and
sent
a
letter
to
inform
them
of
where
their
particular
assigned
precinct
is
for
Election
Day.
For
early
voting,
we
have
established
City
Hall
as
being
the
main
site.
B
Early
voting
begins,
October
24th
and
ends
November
4th
and
so
City
Hall
will
be
open
on
a
daily
basis
during
that
period
of
time,
Monday
through
Friday
and
City
Hall
will
also
be
open
on
five
evenings
during
the
early
voting
period.
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
in
the
first
week
and
Monday
Wednesday
in
the
second
week,
aside
from
city
hall,
will
have
twenty
seven
additional
in-person
voting
opportunities
throughout
the
city.
B
This
is
a
product
of
community
engagement
where
we
we
wanted
to
know
what
would
what
folks
think
early
voting
should
look
like,
and
what
came
back
to
us
was
that
they
should
be
a
focus
on
evening.
I
was
focused
on
the
Saturday
and
they
liked
the
opportunity
to
have
early
voting
sites
that
are
either
in
or
near
every
neighborhood.
So
we've
developed
a
plan
to
that.
Accommodates
that,
and
now
our
focus
is
on
spreading
the
word.
B
So
thank
you
for
having
me
here
on
the
show
today,
because
we
want
to
make
sure
that
we
are
doing
the
best
we
can
to
educate
the
public
of
where
the
sites
are,
what
I
was
there
open
and
how
they
can
participate
through
the
early
voting
process.
There
are
a
couple
of
ways
to
find
out
the
full
schedule.
The
easiest
way
is,
you
could
call
3-1-1
and
our
city's
information
online
and
they
can
provide
you
with
all
the
information
on
the
sites
and
the
hours
they
can
also
visit.
B
Our
website,
which
is
Boston,
gov,
slash
early
voting
state
one
more
time.
Boston
gov
slash
early
voting
to
find
out
the
specific
locations
in
times,
but
I
will
say
the
sites
that
are
in
the
neighborhood.
The
27
sites,
I
mentioned
they'll
all
be
open
from
2:00
p.m.
until
8:00
p.m.
on
Mondays,
Wednesdays
and
Fridays,
and
on
Saturday
we'll
have
nine
sites
going
at
1:00.
So
it's
like
a
Super,
Saturday
and
there'll,
be
one
site
in
each
city,
council
district
on
Saturday,
October,
29th
and
they'll
all
be
open
from
12
p.m.
until
6
p.m.
on
Saturday.
B
A
B
A
great
question
and
and
Leuven
asked
that
many
times
so
on
a
regular
Election
Day.
There
is
a
paper
there's
a
book
printed
out
with
all
of
the
eligible
voters
for
a
particular
precinct
for
early
voting,
because
anyone
can
vote
anywhere.
We're
gonna
have
tablets
electronic
poll
books.
We
call
them
and
I
just
want
to.
You
know,
give
credit
to
Mia
Martin
J
Walsh
for
the
budget
that
he
gave
us
that
allowed
us
to
get
the
poll
books
and
to
be
able
to
do
the
marketing
that
we're
going
to
be
doing.
B
But
it's
to
get
back
to
your
question
is
you'll,
be
checked
in
using
an
electronic
poll
book
that
has
all
of
our
eligible
voters
and
in
it
and
and
then
you'll
be
allowed
to
vote,
and
each
night
will
will
be
basically
updating
our
read
our
list.
So
we
accurate
count
of
who
voted
and
when
saw
that
on
Election
Day
those
ballots.
They
all
go
out
to
the
respective
reasons
for
counting
and
the
list
will
be
marked
to
reflect
all
the
voters
who
were
voted
early
by
early
voting
or
by
the
absentee
process.
A
B
The
the
six
hundred
and
seventy
thousand
dollars
the
mail
wash
was
funded
us
for
early
voting,
allowed
us
to
hire
the
right
people
trained
them
to
secure
the
sites
that
we
have
to
purchase
electronic
poll
books
to
have
at
all
of
our
sites
and
also
to
have
a
robust
marketing
campaign.
That's
multilingual!
That's
able
to
to
reach
our
residents
in
multiple
ways,
so
we're
doing
social
media
outreach,
we're
doing
advertising
and
newspapers.
We
just
did
a
mailing
in
four
languages
to
every
single
household.
B
So
it's
about
300,000
households
that
we
just
did
a
mailing
to,
and
you
know
we're
doing
billboards
brush
up
the
signs
with
you
know
we're
really.
You
know
making
a
big
effort
out
of
this,
because
if
people
don't
know
about
it,
they
you
know
it's
it
might
as
well.
Not
it's
not
this.
Just
like
it
doesn't
exist,
it's
they're
not
aware
of
it,
and
it's
such
a
a
new
thing
and
a
different
experience
for
Boston
voters
that
we
felt
like
it
warranted
a
really
strong
campaign
and.
B
People
are
excited,
we
have
a
contact
by
a
lot
of
organizations
who
are
really
excited
about
this
they're
planning
events
and
doing
outreach
around
specific
sites
that
are
in
their
target
area.
So
to
speak.
So
we're
excited
about
that.
I
know
one
of
our
city
agencies,
the
spark
Boston
initiative
to
engage
there
they're
doing
some
cool
things
on
the
Saturday
of
early
voting.
They're
gonna
have
nine
events
in
each
near
each
early,
voting
site
and
they're
doing
things
like
having
a
run
that
ends
at
an
early
voting
site
or
a
musical
performance
at
another
site.
B
A
B
Of
all
I'm
gonna,
you
know,
I
have
a
great
staff.
I
want
to
mention
them,
and
I
also
want
to
mention
the
poll
workers
I
think.
Sometimes
they
don't
get
enough
credit.
The
poll
workers
folks,
who
are
volunteering
with
us
to
work
for
one
day
and
they're
so
critical
to
enabling
folks
to
cast
their
vote,
that
we
really
appreciate
them.
They
commit
to
this
every
year,
get
trained
and
then
they
administer
our
sites
on
Election
Day.
But
in
terms
of
our
other
partners,
we
have
numerous
partners.
B
I'm
within
the
city
and
outside
I
will
live
in
the
city,
I'll
name
a
few.
We
have
our
office
of
immigrant
advancement
they've
been
very
helpful.
Our
entire
civic
engagement
cabinet,
which
includes
our
3-1-1
Center
office
of
Neighborhood
Services
spot
Boston,
they've,
been
tremendously
helpful
in
our
Health
and
Human
Services
cabinet.
We
have
the
Boston
Center
for
youth
and
families
which
they
have
36
sites
throughout
the
city,
and
they
they
touch
a
lot
of
folks.
They
are
being
very
helpful
with
this
to
get
the
word
out
and
to
engage
particularly
young
folks
and
families.
B
B
Well,
I
think
my
back
well
helps
me
to
have
a
equity
lens
and
I
guess
a
good
example
of
that
would
be
early
voting.
The
law
actually
only
requires
us
to
have
early
voting
in
person
at
City
Hall.
That's
the
minimum
to
go
beyond
that.
It
was
totally
at
our
discretion.
I
thought
it
was
the
court
and
mayor
Walsh
also
felt
it
was
important
that
we
not
just
have
voting
at
City
Hall
that
we
at
least
provide
opportunities
throughout
the
city
equally
distributed.
B
A
B
Every
vote
counts,
and
you
know
I
think
that
we
should
not
limit
our
votes
to
a
particular
candidate
or
a
particular
party.
Let's
think
about
what
it
means
to
have
a
government
for
the
people
by
the
people.
You
know
it
means
that
you
know
everyone
should
vote
in
order
for
us
to
have
a
functioning
democracy.
The
more
people
that
are
voting,
the
stronger
our
democracy
is
so
I
would
say.
If
you
don't
like
a
candidate,
you
could
write
yourself
in,
but
vote
and.
A
A
A
A
On
October
24th,
maybe
that
particular
day,
if
you
would
like
more
information
about
the
city
of
Boston's,
Boston
elections,
department,
registration
and
polling
deadlines,
please
visit
Boston,
gov
forest
last
elections
or
send
an
email
to
election
at
Boston
gov
or
call
607
six,
three,
five,
eight
six,
eight
three.
As
always,
thanks
for
joining
me
on
this
edition
of
commissioners
corner
I'm,
Nashua
Wasi,.