CT Secretary of State Merrill Outlines Proposals to Improve Election Administration in CT, Professionalize Office of Registrar of Voters

Connecticut is the only state in the country that leaves election administration to two partisan locally elected officials. There are no minimal qualifications for Connecticut’s Registrars of Voters, who are chosen by their local town political committees.

Report by Paula Antolini
March 27, 2015 8:53AM EDT

MerrilDeniseCTSecofState

SECRETARY OF THE STATE SEEKS TO ESTABLISH ONE REGISTRAR PER MUNICIPALITY, LOCALLY APPOINTED PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEE; REQUIRE MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS, TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION

Connecticut is the only state in the country that leaves election administration to two partisan locally elected officials. There are no minimal qualifications for Connecticut’s Registrars of Voters, who are chosen by their local town political committees. The nominee of the major parties for Registrar do not run against each other, they are each guaranteed a local position under state law, funded by municipal taxpayers.

Other New England states leave election administration to the local municipal clerk, or through local bipartisan boards of election who hire professional staff to manage day-to-day operations. In fact, many states have regional or county-wide bipartisan boards of elections where elections are administered regionally by professional staff hired for their qualifications and experience.

In addition to the high-profile problems experienced in Bridgeport and Hartford that led to problems at the polls on Election Day in 2010 and 2014, there are constantly reports of dysfunctional relationships locally between Registrars of Voters of different political parties. There have been cases of verbal and physical altercations, one Registrar locking the other one out of the office, one Registrar dominating office functions while the other rarely reports to work and other troubling issues.

Under current state laws, there is also very little that can be done to discipline or hold accountable a Registrar of Voters who is not doing their job, not complying with state laws, or not acting in a professional manner.

As local elected officials there is virtually nothing that can be done by the state or even the municipality to require participation with new technological improvements to modernize how elections are conducted, how results are reported, and how vote counts are audited, for instance. As municipal employees, this type of compliance with state and federal laws and fluency with new technologies would be a requirement of the job.

Legislative concepts submitted by Secretary Merrill to the GAE committee related to strengthening election administration were contained in a bill that was heard at a public hearing on Monday March 9, 2015.

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CLICK HERE for the Merrill testimony on March 9, 2015, Senate Bill No. 1051, “AN ACT STRENGTHENING CONNECTICUT ELECTIONS” and Bill No. 1042 “AN ACT CONCERNING MUNICIPAL OPTIONS FOR ELECTIONS” and also HB 6900 “AN ACT CONCERNING ELECTION ADMINISTRATION.”

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Denise W. Merrill is Connecticut’s Secretary of the State.

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