Connecticut’s Presidential Primary Is August 11

By Susannah Wood

For the first time in Connecticut, voters do not have to be sick, disabled or out of town in order to lawfully vote by absentee ballot. When applying for a ballot, voters can mark Covid-19 as the reason for their request. Governor Lamont’s emergency powers allowed him to make this change by executive order so that voters could decide for themselves whether to vote in person during the pandemic.

By now, all registered Democrats and Republicans in Connecticut who have voted in a recent election should have received an application for an absentee ballot. As of July 20, Town Hall had already received triple the usual number of completed applications. Voters who have only recently registered may need to request an application from Linda Perkins, our town clerk, if they have not received one by the beginning of August (860-542-5679, townclerk@norfolkct.org). If you have received an application for someone not living at your address, please notify the town clerk. Discard the application if planning to vote in person.

Voter registration forms are also available outside Town Hall and on line. The last day new voters can register in order to vote in the primary is Aug. 6 by 4 p.m. While the deadline to change party affiliation is long past, unaffiliated voters can join a party until the day before the primary. Voters changing their registration from another state or another town in Connecticut should remember to write the appropriate Board of Elections to remove their name from those voter rolls. Anyone unsure of their registration status should contact the registrars of voters (see below) or the online data base at the secretary of state’s website: https://portal.ct.gov/SOTS.

The actual ballots will have started to arrive the third week of July. Voters receive three pieces: the ballot itself (A), an inner envelope (B), an outer envelope (C) along with instructions on how to fill in the ballot.

1. Darken the oval corresponding to your choice with a black pen. Felt tips work best. Try to make no other marks. If you make a mistake, put an X through it and write WRONG beside it. Ballot counters will accept and count those ballots manually. Do not sign the ballot itself.

• Place the ballot inside the inner envelope. Seal, sign and date the outside of the inner envelope. Use the same signature as on your application. The town clerk must check these signatures to ensure they are legitimate. If you don’t sign this inner envelope, your vote won’t be counted.

• Put the inner envelope inside the outer one, and mail it in or drop it off at Town Hall. in the secure drop box. If you drop off your ballot, please do so before election day to reduce traffic. If mailing, allow at least five days, as the ballot goes to Hartford first.

Each ballot, along with its inner envelope, has a serial number assigned to a particular voter so that ballots can be authenticated if challenged. Only the voter to whom the ballot was sent may fill it out. It’s against the law to fill in someone else’s.

Concerns about potential fraud in the absentee ballot process seem unwarranted in small towns like Norfolk where each step in the process of authenticating, securing and counting the absentee ballots is handled by the town clerk and the two registrars of voters under strict guidelines. As ballots come in, voters are checked off with an A on the master list so that no one can vote twice. The drop box is bolted down, and the opening very small to prevent tampering. The state has also upgraded security of the digital voter information system with two-factor identification and complex passwords. A single dedicated line links the central data base in Hartford, the registrars’ and the town clerk’s computers. Election officials are undergoing cyber security training sessions as well. All towns submitted a Safe Polls Plan and are to be reimbursed by the state for extra staff, PPE purchases and other Covid-19-related costs. The state plans to use funds from its share of the federal CARES act to cover this expense.

The polls will be open as usual from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. for in-person voting with many precautions to lower risk for both voters and poll workers. Some protective equipment is being provided to poll workers by the state: gloves, masks, face shields, hand sanitizer. In addition, the state has set out guidance for safe practices, including marking out waiting areas with six-foot intervals, setting up one-way traffic through the polling area, stationing poll workers outside the door to make sure voters are masked and having masks for voters who need them. Weather permitting, windows will be open. While voting is often a time for chatting with one another, voters are urged to move through the process quickly and quietly.

The primary election will be a dress rehearsal for the general election. Since Governor Lamont’s emergency authority runs out in September, he cannot issue a similar executive order to broaden absentee voting for Nov. 3  unless his emergency power is extended. The state legislature is slated to consider the issue in a special session in July. One common misconception is that the state’s constitution expressly says individuals must be sick themselves in order to qualify for an absentee ballot. The actual wording of Article 39 is a less restrictive “because of sickness.” It is only in the state statute governing elections that reference is made to “his or her illness.” This may give the legislature more leeway to change the absentee rules for November.

While this article will come out too late to recruit a state-certified moderator for the primary, please consider volunteering for Election Day. Moderators should be detail oriented, since they oversee the voting process throughout the day, making sure the voting machine is operating properly, assisting voters and seeing that the count is handled according to regulations so that we can be assured that the end result is fair and accurate. A training course is required. Other volunteers may also be needed to help out for both the primary and Election Day to check people in, be ballot counters, hand out PPE to anyone who needs it. Poll workers have traditionally tended to be older, putting them at greater risk during the pandemic. Please consider offering to help. If interested, contact one of the registrars of voters (860-542-5134): Phylis Bernard (R), repubregistrat@norfolkct.org; and Danese Perron (D), demregistrar@norfolkct.org.