The city of Boston has a new elections commissioner. Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday announced that longtime city worker Kerry Jordan will serve as the new executive director of the Boston Elections Department.
The leadership change comes after the department was put into receivership last year following several mishaps during the 2024 presidential election, which led to ballot shortages at multiple precincts.
Since then — and following an investigation by Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin — the city’s election department has been overhauled to ensure enough ballots are sent out to polling locations and improve communication with poll workers. Last year’s preliminary election was the first test of those changes.
Ahead of this year’s primaries, Wu said the city is working to ensure Boston voters can “participate confidently, safely, freely” in the election.
“That means strengthening our election infrastructure across staffing, training and technology,” Wu said Wednesday.
The city has hired more than 1,860 poll workers for this election, including more than 400 multilingual poll workers, according to Wu. The city has also expanded its call center staffing, scheduled more than 100 training sessions for poll workers and ran an exercise to test the city’s election preparedness last week, Wu said.
The city will also continue to use electronic check-in devices called “poll pads.” Wu said these devices reduced check-in times by 90% during last year’s preliminary election. The devices will also send the city’s election department real-time information about voter turnout, Wu added.
Jordan said he hopes to build on the changes the city has made to its election practices.
“ As the incoming executive director, I hope to invest in the team, the system, and the processes that continue the democratic project that began two hundred and fifty years ago,” Jordan said.
A lifelong Dorchester resident, Jordan previously served as chief of staff for the city’s Department of Innovation and Technology. Paul Chong, the commissioner of city records, touted Jordan’s deep connections to the city and understanding of how technology can be built into the election department’s day-to-day operations.
“ So the [leadership] change is for the long-term development of the Boston Election Department,” said Chong, who has been serving as acting head of the elections department.
Jordan will begin leading the city’s election department after Labor Day.
