After Stonington early voting ballot error, voters have opportunity to recast ballots
Stonington ―Early voters who may have received an incorrect ballot on Tuesday will have the opportunity to have their ballots voided and cast a new one, according to a statement from the town’s Registrar of Voters office.
The statement, posted to the town’s website Thursday morning, comes after at least three voters, who live in the state’s 43rd House of Representatives District, were incorrectly given ballots for the 41st District.
District 43 covers the towns of Ledyard, North Stonington and Stonington, primarily in Pawcatuck and the areas north of Interstate 95. District 41 covers parts of Groton and the remaining parts of Stonington.
It is unclear how many people were given the wrong ballot, according to the statement, but The Day spoke with three voters who live in the town’s second and third districts who were impacted by the error.
On Thursday afternoon, Peggy Roberts, Republican registrar of voters confirmed that approximately 15 ballots from Tuesday had been voided so far.
“We’re trying as hard as we can. We want to make sure we do all we can to make it right,” Roberts said.
The three initial voters, all Pawcatuck residents in District 43, received ballots that did not have incumbent Republican state Rep. Greg Howard’s name on them, but rather listed Aundré Bumgardner on the Democratic line for the seat.
All three voters cast their ballots and left the polling place. One voter later returned to discuss the issue, and his ballot was voided, and he cast a new, correct ballot on Tuesday.
Howard is running against Earl “Ty” Lamb, an unaffiliated voter endorsed by the Democratic party, for the state’s 43rd District House of Representatives seat. Bumgardner is the incumbent Democratic state representative who is running unopposed for the 41st District House seat.
“We were unable to pinpoint how many ballots were involved. We heard from one voter that he had received the incorrect ballot. We did not hear from anyone else,” the statement read.
Upon discovery of the errors, the registrars immediately contacted the Secretary of the State’s office and began double-checking ballots before providing them to voters, and implemented further measures to ensure no further errors occurred.
The registrars’ office received guidance from the Secretary of the State’s office on Thursday detailing how the issue was to be remedied, including sequestering all of Tuesday’s ballots, contacting all voters who cast a ballot on Tuesday and allowing them to return to vote on the correct ballot.
Roberts said letters to all of 519 voters would be going out by Friday, and the office would also reach out by phone or email if that information had been provided, to let them know that if they believed they had received the wrong ballot, they could return to the Stonington Police Department Community Room, where early voting is taking place, to have their ballot voided and cast the correct one.
Voters who believe their ballot was correct do not need to return, and their ballot will be hand-counted on Election Day.
Roberts also said that more than 1,500 votes were cast in the first three days of early voting, more than 10% of the town’s 14,000 registered voters, and that all ballots cast on Tuesday had been separated from the other ballots.
On Thursday, four check-in stations were available to voters — two for 41st District voters and two for 43rd District voters, and only the corresponding ballots were at each station.
During in-person voting on Election Day, the ballots for the two House districts are not in the same locations. Instead, ballots for 43rd District are only located at the polling places for voting districts 2, 3, and 5, and 41st District ballots are solely at the polling places for voting districts 1 and 4.
During early voting, all votes are cast at one central location.
Howard said on Thursday that he did not believe the error was an example of intentional “malfeasance,” and he was pleased the problem would be corrected, but noted that, “The fix isn’t a fix. It’s a mend.”
“The only way for this to be fixed, and for us to be confident this was 100% fixed would be if every single person who voted on Tuesday returned for a new ballot,” he said.
He noted that if people who received the wrong ballots do not return, their ballots will be considered complete, and when hand-counted on Election Day, though their votes for all other offices and ballot questions will be counted, their vote for state representative will not as it was cast for a district they are ineligible to vote in.
Lamb said on Thursday that he was happy the problem was being corrected.
“We all want fair and well-run elections. We also know humans are always part of the equations for what we do. I always trusted that the people who are registrars and volunteers are out to do the right thing and felt in my heart that they would get to a solution and get a corrective action in place,” he said.
Bumgardner said on Thursday that he has been in close contact with the Secretary of the State’s office, caucus leadership and the Registrar of Voters, and that he was assured the issue had been addressed to prevent further errors.
He noted that because early voting ballots are sealed in individual envelopes bearing the date and the voter’s signature, it is possible to retrieve a voter’s ballot, thereby making it possible for all of Tuesday’s voters to return to the polling location to verify that their vote was cast for the correct legislative district, which he encouraged all 519 voters to do.
“I trust our election officials to uphold the integrity of the process and do their jobs correctly,” he said.
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