Pilot Program Would Change Handling Of Absentee Ballots

By Kathryn Masterson

Associated Press

HARTFORD – The State Elections Enforcement Commission is working this summer on a program designed to cut down on the abuse of absentee ballots.

Commission members hope to have the pilot program in place by September’s primary elections in three municipalities. Bridgeport has already agreed to take part in the trial.

Under the program, which was approved by the General Assembly this past session, registrars of voters will appoint absentee ballot coordinators to oversee the system and assist people who have requested absentee ballots. The coordinators will submit all applications to the town clerk and can assist voters in completing the ballots.

Currently, campaign workers are allowed to distribute applications.

The new program will also keep confidential the names of people who have requested ballots, a change from the current law that allows political parties access to that information.

“It would replace overzealous candidates and campaign workers from knocking down doors and throwing absentee ballots in people’s faces,” said Jeffrey Garfield executive director of the Elections Enforcement Commission.

Campaigns targeting the absentee vote often go after elderly, lower-income or non-English speaking residents, who may be vulnerable to intimidatation, Garfield said.

Of the 1,043,792 votes in the last stateide election, 47,000 were cast by absentee ballot.

Connecticut has a history of absentee ballot fraud dating back to the early 1980s, Garfield said.

In 1986, at least nine people were arrested for alleged absentee ballot abuse in a gubernatorial primary between then-Gov. William A. O’Neill and Toby Moffett.

Moffett, a former congressman, appeared to have won the primary after the machine votes were counted, only to lose to O’Neill by 43 absentee votes. The O’Neill supporters were later accused of absentee-ballot fraud, but the statutory deadline for calling a new election passed before proof was presented in court.

In 1996, state Rep. Edwin Garcia and several campaign workers were convicted of signing up residents who did not qualify for absentee ballots in a town committee race.

The General Assembly has reformed election laws regarding absentee ballots, including a 1997 statute that prohibits candidates from being present when a ballot is completed. Also, registrars of voters have supervised balloting in nursing homes.