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From YouTube: Early Voting 2016 Press Conference
Description
Mayor Walsh is joined by Boston Elections Committee Chair, Dion Irish, and Cabinet Chief of the Office of Civic Engagement, Jerome Smith, to encourage Boston residents to come to Boston City Hall and vote early this election.
A
A
Well,
first
of
all,
thank
you
very
much
for
covering
today
I
want
to
thank
Commission,
Dion
Irish
from
the
election
department.
I
want
to
thank
jerome
smith
from
civic
engagement
as
well.
You
know
we're
excited
here
in
Boston
to
kick
off
early
vote
for
the
first
time
in
our
city
and
in
our
Commonwealth
early
vote
is
it
certainly
gives
flexibility
to
people
and
how
and
when
and
where
they
vote
it's
going
to
help
us
a
family
needs
and
work,
workplace
demands
and
medical
commitments
and
I
know
in
the
legislature.
A
We
have
this
debate
at
the
Statehouse.
We
will
talk
at
the
time
as
a
legislator
we're
talking
about
really
creating
opportunities.
We
see
other
states
around
the
country
that
have
early
vote.
I.
Think
I
heard
a
stat
yesterday
that
by
the
by
election
day,
thirty
percent
of
the
united
states,
america
will
voted
leading
into
the
primary.
So
it
certainly
makes
a
democracy
stronger.
A
So
there's
a
lot
of
interest
in
this
year's
election,
not
just
in
the
presidential,
but
also
throughout
some
of
the
some
of
the
potential
laws
that
could
be
put
on
the
books
and
not
put
on
the
books.
Early
voting
begins
today
goes
through
November.
Fourth,
we
have
28
earlene
voted
early
voting
locations
throughout
the
city
of
austin
these
many
of
these
locations,
where
we
will
be
open
into
the
evening.
A
So
I
asked
you
to
get
this
information
out
on
saturday
october,
29th
there'll
be
nine
polling
locations,
one
in
every
single
neighborhood
of
our
city
and
its
City
Hall.
The
early
voting
will
be
available
every
day
up
until
november.
Fourth,
so
we
want
to
just
continue
to
to
make
it
as
easy
as
possible
for
people
to
get
out
and
vote,
and
so
there's
no
excuses
why
people
can't
vote
and
they
can't
give
us
you
know
whatever
reason
it
is:
they
can't
vote
in
this
presidential
election.
We
rope
on
the
weekends
we're
open
during
the
week.
B
A
So
it's
seven
days
over
seven
days
a
week,
city
hall
will
be
open,
so
people
can
come
in
on
Saturdays
and
Sundays
to
find
out.
Where
you
will
you
vote,
we
ask
people
to
go
to
Boston,
gov
or
call
out
311
hunt
line
and
we'll
be
able
to
get
get
that
for
you.
Just
for
those
that
might
ask
questions.
The
money
for
early
vote
was
allocated
in
last
year's
budget,
six
hundred
and
seventy
thousand
dollars
to
implement
early
voting.
A
It
included
a
citywide
marketing
campaign,
long-term
investments
in
electronic
poll
books
for
checking
voters
to
make
sure
that
their
names
on
the
list
and
we're
going
to
be
able
to
use
these
poll
books
for
the
future.
We
also
have
Boston
police
officers
assigned
to
each
location
to
enforce
the
rules
and
regulations
and
poll
workers
here
in
the
city
to
make
sure
the
ballots
and
the
elections
run
properly
all
ballots
early,
absentee
and
election
day
balance
will
be
checked
off
the
voters
list
at
each
person's
assigned
polling
location
encounter
together.
A
So
what
will
happen
is
I
vote
in
Ward
seventeen
precinct
13,
leading
up
to
election
day
when
election
day
comes
the
poll
workers
will
get
a
list
of
all
the
folks
that
live
in
and
vote
in
that
precinct,
who
previously
voted
signal
through
and
check
the
book
to
make
sure
everyone's
voted.
So
there's
no
no
problem
with
that,
so
they
really
have
a
great
system
here,
I'm
going
to
turn
the
microphone
over
the
Dionne
Irish,
the
Commissioner
of
Elections,
who
can
get
a
little
more
into
it
and
then
I
believe
Jerome's.
B
Thank
You
mr.
mayor
just
want
to
go
over
some
of
the
operational
details
of
early
voting
and
I'll
skip
over
some
of
the
things
that
Mayor
Walsh
already
mentioned
so
save
time.
First
of
all,
I
want
to
thank
mayor
Walsh
for
his
generous
budget
and
also
want
to
thank
chief
clarity
for
clarity
and
the
Boston
City
Council,
as
well
for
their
budgetary
support
and
leadership,
and
also
wanted
to
say
thank
you
to
Secretary
Galvan's
office,
who
have
been
tremendously
helpful
with
us
to
work
through
some
of
the
challenges
of
the
first
time.
B
Implementation
of
early
voting
I
also
want
to
thank
the
city
agencies
and
members
of
our
advisory
committee
and
the
private
partners
and
community
leaders
have
been
so
helpful
in
helping
us
to
get
the
word
out
about
early.
As
you
can
see,
they
did
a
very
good
job
in
and
helped
us
to
get.
The
word
out.
As
of
now
that
the
mayor
mentioned
we
have
about
four
hundred
and
nine
thousand
registered
voters
and
Counting.
My
staff
is
still
busy
in
room.
B
241
processing
and
additional
9000
registrations
were
voted,
so
we're
seeing
a
lot
of
interest
in
this
election.
For
folks
who
are
not
currently
process,
they'll
still
be
able
to
vote,
they'll
be
using
a
provisional
processor
and
we're
going
to
work
evenings
and
as
many
hours
as
we
can
to
get
all
registrations
process
as
soon
as
possible.
We
also
are
encouraging
voters
to
who
want
to
take
advantage
of
our
early
voting
scheduled
to
go
to
Boston
cuff,
so
they
can
Boston
gov.
So
you
can
see
the
full
schedule
or
you
can
always
call
311
we're.
Also.
B
I
want
to
emphasize
what
the
mayor
said
that
we
have
important
questions
on
the
ballot,
so
we're
encouraging.
Voters
who
want
to
vote
early
are,
on
november
eighth
to
really
take
time
to
review
those
ballot
questions,
and
that
will
also
help
us
to
keep
the
lines
moving
in
and
folks
who
vote
in
a
timely
fashion
for
our
early
voting
sites.
We
are
staffing
our
sites
with
10
to
12
people
at
each
site.
As
the
mayor
mentioned,
we,
although
it's
not
required,
we
wanted
to
ensure
security.
B
So
we
have
boston
police
at
every
location
and
they'll
also
be
maintained
in
the
arm
chain
of
custody,
for
voted
ballots
and
for
sensitive
equipment.
Just
want
to
talk
a
little
bit
about
today
in
the
first
25
minutes.
This
morning
we
had
62
people
vote
in
25
minutes,
so
it's
been
tremendous
and,
as
of
last
comment,
we've
already
had
over
700
people
vote.
So
it's
been
a
tremendous
success
so
far,
I'm
going
to
turn
it
over
now
to
on
to
chief
Jerome,
Smith
and
I'll,
be
here
to
answer
any
questions
as
well.
Thank
you.
C
Hello,
everybody
thanks
Commissioner
Irish.
This
is
this
is
a
really
exciting
time
in
the
city
and
in
the
Commonwealth
and
I
want
to
thank
the
mayor
for
his
support.
This
is
especially
exciting
for
our
millennial
population.
Some
of
some
of
this
will
be
the
first
time
that
they've
ever
voted
here
in
our
city,
Erin
Santos,
our
director
of
spark
Boston
and
her
spark
Boston
team
have
worked
hard
to
engage
this
population
and
that
and
to
show
them
that
voting
can
be
easy
and
can
be
fun.
C
We
know
that
young
people
in
Boston
have
a
very
demanding
schedule
from
working
full-time
jobs,
attending
multiple
classes
by
day,
creating
and
running
their
own
businesses,
and
we
want
to
make
it
easier
for
them
to
be
able
to
exercise
their
right
to
vote
and
as
a
special.
It
is
especially
important
that
they
get
out
there
and
vote
this
election.
So
when
it's
important
to
have
high
voter
turnout
and
it's
the
first
time
voting,
we
wanted
to
make
sure
that
we
implemented
everything.
C
The
Massachusetts
is
allowed
us
to
do
here
in
the
city
and
to
spread
the
word.
That's
why
spark
Boston,
which
is
the
cities
initiative
to
empower
the
millennial
generation
and
also
to
spark
engagement
in
the
next
next
generation
of
civic
leaders
and
entrepreneurs
or
a
city,
have
created
these
kind
of
early
voting
events
that
are
going
to
take
in
a
crease
all
across
the
city,
particularly
starting
on
Saturday
October
39th.
C
These
events
are
going
to
be
fun,
opportunities
from
Lenny
engage
each
other
and
to
make
connections,
and
we
hope
that
these
events
spark
a
meaningful
conversation
and
why
it's
important
to
be
civically
engaged
so
whether
you're
doing
yoga
in
pierce
park
in
east
boston
or
at
the
mini
block
party
in
mattapan
or
you're,
going
to
test
your
trivia
at
dudley.
Cafe
and
roxbury
there'll
be
plenty
of
pop
up
holes
around
the
city
to
get
people
involved.
C
We
courage
everybody
to
participate
and
to
wear
your
I
voted
sticker,
while
you're
out
at
these
events,
and
also
to
use
the
hashtag
spark
Boston
votes
for
a
chance
to
win
a
meeting
with
the
mayor
and
again,
I
want
to
parse
Park
Boston
and
everybody
who
today
had
come
together
to
pull
this
event
to
make
it
happen,
and
that,
and
also
to
help
show
that
every
young
person,
the
city,
that
their
vote
matters
and
it's
important
to
get
out
there
and
vote
so
well.
At
that
point.