New London — Discussion on expanding the number of voting districts has resurfaced as the result of a disappointing voter turnout in the presidential election here.

New London’s 55% voter turnout was sharply below the state’s record 79%. Surrounding towns saw even higher numbers than the state average, buoyed in part by the fact that absentee ballots were made available to all voters because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 16,996 registered voters in the city during the last election.

City Councilor James Burke broached the subject of expansion of voting districts during an hourlong election debriefing with officials from the Registrar of Voters Office on Monday.

Burke previously had inquired with the city attorney about how an expansion could be accomplished and said in an interview Tuesday the answer is a City Council ordinance.

“At the end of the day we want to make it easier for people to vote, easier for them to commute to a polling place,” along with shorter lines and ability for people in the north end of the city to vote as easily as it is in the south end of the city, Burke said.

Burke, who also served as campaign manager for state Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London, said it was something he would be pursuing but the most sensible time would be after the data from the latest census is released. The data will redraw the state’s legislative districts and any changes proposed for New London should follow those lines, he said.

The city in 2009 reduced the number of voting districts from seven to three as a cost-cutting measure. It figured it could save about $12,000 per election. The District 1 polling place is located on the campus of New London High School off Jefferson Avenue. District 2's is at Harbor School on Montauk Avenue. District 3's is at Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School, 37 Beech Drive, off Ocean Avenue.

Burke said at least one extra voting location is needed in District 1, the city’s largest, to make it easier to walk to a polling place and ensure voters are not being disenfranchised. He cited numbers that show significant walking distances — 45 minutes in one case in District 1 — for some voters in the eastern part of the city. He said many of the homes farthest from the polling places are in lower-income areas.

“Essentially the poorest people in our city have the hardest time getting to their polls and the wealthiest people in the city have the easiest time getting to the polls,” Burke said.

Democratic Registrar of Voters Bill Giesing, during Monday’s discussion with the City Council, said there was little change in voter turnout when the city dropped four of its districts. “The number of people that were turning out to seven districts were identical. There was no change after we went to the three districts,” he said.

Giesing said part of it, he suspects, is the transient nature of the city’s population. “The polling places I don’t think are the problem. It’s the way people are either moving around or their reluctance to come out period," he said. "I don’t think I understand it myself. I’ve watched it for all these years and I can’t tell why it’s happening.”

He suggested that expected changes to the state’s voting laws that will allow more absentee ballots, coupled with better education, might be the answer.

It’s not the first time a potential expansion of voting places has been discussed. The City Council in 2014 voted in favor of expanding District 1 into three polling locations and District 2 into two locations, for a total of six. Councilors, Council President Efrain Dominguez among them, had at the time voiced similar concerns about disenfranchising voters.

The Secretary of the State’s Office, however, deemed the move impermissible, since state law forbids a city from having more polling places than voting districts.

Registrars during Monday’s debriefing also discussed an election day mishap in District 2, where some voters were handed ballots from District 3, which is part of the 41st state House District. Districts 1 and 2 vote in the 39th House District.

Voting machines rejected the ballots and the registrar’s office, using new software that tracks voting in real time, attempted to contact voters to get them back to cast new ballots. The mishap involved one packet of 100 ballots that was caught by a voter after about 70 ballots had been cast.

Giesing and Republican Registrar Rob Pero said the office was exploring use of color-coded ballots to avoid any future confusion.

g.smith@theday.com