More than one week after thousands of Boston voters were left frustrated when some voting districts ran out of ballots, Boston City Councilors said at yesterday’s meeting they want to investigate whether some voting precincts were intentionally understocked.

City Councilor Charles Yancey (Dorchester, Mattapan) said the districts that ran out of ballots were in “mostly communities of color.” He added that in several districts, voters had to stay after the polls closed at 8 p.m. to wait for additional ballots to arrive, and many frustrated residents left without casting a vote.

“We can not diminish the seriousness of what happened, whatever the problem is,” Yancey said. “We need to get to the bottom of it, guaranteeing people the fundamental right to vote. What if this had been a close gubernatorial or presidential election?”

According to Massachusetts law, voting districts are required to have one ballot for every registered voter.

Some councilors blamed the ballot shortage on the fewer number of employees working for the Massachusetts Elections Division, a branch of Secretary of State William Galvin’s office. Councilor Maureen Feeney (Harbor Island, Dorchester) said the Elections Division, used to have “80 or 90 people” working for it. It has now been scaled back to 19 employees because of budget cuts, she said.

Councilor-at-Large Stephen Murphy said he heard accounts alleging the double-sided ballot used in last week’s election caused confusion, saying that in many instances, people received two ballots, not realizing it was double-sided.

Councilor-at-Large Sam Yoon said he fears Boston residents may become dissatisfied with the election process if it is not improved, saying it is the Council’s job to ensure Boston residents can easily exercise their democratic voting rights.

The councilors agreed to create a committee that will look into resolving these problems before the next election season, although they recognized that recent changes mandate that the Secretary of State’s Office will regulate all voting procedures. Councilors also said the committee will hold public forums to hear citizen concerns.

Also at the meeting, Council President Michael Flaherty proposed a hearing to look into a provisional measure to launch A Child is Missing Notification program.

Flaherty said the program would be a vital tool for the city, allowing officials to locate lost children and people with mental illnesses.

According to Flaherty, the system would field calls to police departments reporting a missing person. The system would record a description of the missing person and connect the message to a telemarketing system, which would generate thousands of calls into the area where the call was placed in hopes of finding someone who recognizes the missing person.

He added that 74 percent of children are slain within the first three hours of disappearing, and this system would enable officials to locate a missing child faster.

Flaherty said the system can make thousands of calls instantly, citing a missing child case in Foxborough where a child was found after phone calls were made to the police department with a physical description of the child.

“There are creeps and predators out there who prey on children,” he said.

The Council voted to expedite a hearing on the measure and said they hope to have it in place by the holiday season.