Boston City Councilor At-Large Henry Santana speaks with a demonstrator in Roslindale. Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Tuesday is Election Day in 55 cities and towns across Massachusetts, including Boston.
Incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu is running unopposed, so the focus is on the many city council races. Still, Wu is encouraging residents to get to the polls.
“I respectfully ask for your vote, there’s an election at the mayoral level still and there’s an election at the city council level that matters every single day for our daily lives here in the city,” Wu said.
In the race for at-large Boston City Councilors, there are four incumbents and four challengers.
The incumbents are City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Erin Murphy and Henry Santana. The challengers are Frank Baker, Will Onuoha, Marvin Mathelier and Alexandra Valdez.
City councilors representing Districts 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 9 are also facing challengers in this election.
There is no incumbent in the District 7 race, since that seat was left empty by former City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who resigned after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.
Polls are open in Boston until 8 p.m., and Wu said she has faith that there will be fewer problems than last year, when some polling locations ran out of ballots.
Boston Mayor Wu, speaking to reporters in Roslindale after casting her vote.Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
“Our focus is on making sure everyone can get in and out as quickly as possible,” Wu said. “We have seen across the city that the new check-in system with the electronic tabulation has been working smoothly.”
Wu also said that total count from mail-in votes and early in-person voting was lower than it had had been heading into the preliminary election in September, and she hopes that the numbers will continue to grow.
“We need to make sure that people continue coming out and we want to see turnout as high as possible,” Wu said.
More information on registering to vote and finding your polling location is available on the city of Boston’s website.
WBZ’s James Rojas (@JamesRojas.bsky.social) reports.