Responding to last November’s highly publicized Election Day problems in municipalities including Bridgeport, where a shortage of paper ballots contributed to a days-long delay in the declaration of a new governor, the Senate has approved a bill establishing standards to ensure local registrars buy enough ballots. The 34-0 vote Thursday sent the bill to the House for action in coming weeks.
The bill says local voter registrars must certify to the secretary of the state that they have ordered enough ballots for each polling place. They also would need to show that they have considered all relevant factors in determining how many they need. Unless registrars clear their plans with the secretary of the state, they would have to order one ballot for each registered voter.
The bill also would require registrars to “create an emergency contingency plan for elections,” covering potential problems including ballot shortages, a shortage or absence of poll workers, a loss of power, a fire or an alarm sounding in a polling place, voting-machine malfunctions, the need to remove a poll worker or moderator, and “disorder in and around the polling place.”
“Free, fair and open elections are a hallmark of our representative democracy,” said Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, co-chairwoman of the legislature’s government administration and elections committee, as well as a leading proponent of the bill.
Full Article: Senate Approves Balloting Reform Bill – Courant.com.