Budget Referendum,

GOP Primary April 24

By John Voket

Tuesday, April 24, will be the first time in anyone’s memory that a local polling location had to host two separate voting activities.

In Newtown, Republican primary voters from District 1 who report to Newtown Middle School to cast ballots will have to exit the primary polling location and enter a separate area of the middle school gym to cast their local referendum vote. And Republicans in District 2, District 3-1, and District 3-2 will have to travel to two polling places if they want to also cast a budget vote.

District 2 votes at the Reed School, District 3-1 votes at Head O’ Meadow School, and District 3-2 votes at Edmond Town Hall. Voting hours are 6 am to 8 pm.

Town Clerk Debbie A. Aurelia said this year’s budget referendum will contain a single question: Shall the sum of $107,806,523 be appropriated as the annual town budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year?

If the budget proposal passes on the first attempt, it would result a 2.34 percent tax increase tied to $107,406,525 in expenditures, while requiring $107,806,525 in revenue. The $400,000 difference would be applied to the fund balance, bringing it up to 8.0 percent of the total budget on July 1, 2012 — one full year ahead of plan.

The finance board approved a town-side request of $27,980,942, representing a 0.43 percent increase over the current year. The school district’s request, which was passed by the council’s Education Committee, stands at $69,355,794 — a 2.04 percent increase over the current year generating a new tax rate of 24.94 mills.

A mill equals one dollar in taxation for every $1,000 in assessed property.

Pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 7-6, any person who is a registered voter in the Town of Newtown or who is a US citizen who is assessed at least $1,000 for real estate or motor vehicles on the 2011 Grand List for the Town of Newtown is qualified to vote in the referendum.

According to Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, 17-year-old Connecticut citizens are eligible to vote in the upcoming Republican Presidential Preference Primary if they will turn 18 by Election Day on November 6.

This is the first Presidential Preference Primary in Connecticut’s history when 17-year-olds will be allowed to cast ballots, due to the passage of an amendment to Connecticut’s state Constitution in 2008 that has enabled 17-year-old citizens to cast ballots in primaries if they will be of legal voting age by the day of the general election.

“It is important for young people to take ownership of the political process early, so they can turn into lifelong voters,” said Secretary Merrill.

Vote Absentee Saturday

Newtown’s town clerk will hold special hours on Saturday, April 21, from 9 am to noon, for the purpose of absentee ballot voting on the budget and the GOP primary. Otherwise, absentee ballots are available for the vote Monday through Friday, from 8 am to 4:30 pm.

To vote by absentee ballot, an individual must be an active service in the Armed Forces; absent from the town during all the hours of voting; ill or suffering a physical disability; prohibited by religious tenets which forbid secular activity on the day of the referendum; or having duties as a referendum official at a polling place other than your their own during all the hours of voting.

Under provisions of the Connecticut General Statutes, voters may obtain an absentee ballot by applying at the town clerk’s office in person or appointing a qualified designee, who must be a person caring for the voter because of an illness, including but not limited to a licensed physician or a registered practical nurse; a member of the voter’s family; a police officer in the municipality; or a registrar of voters or deputy registrar of voters in the municipality.

Absentee ballots can be returned in person to the town clerk by 4:30 pm Monday, April 23, or by mail or designee before the closing of the polls on referendum day 8 pm, April 24. Having both activities on the same day also means individuals casting absentee ballots for both activities must be extra careful to ensure their ballots are not disqualified, according to Ms Aurelia.

“We want people who vote absentee to be aware that their mail-in ballots for the budget come with matching coded return envelopes,” Ms Aurelia said. “So if the voter is also registered Republican, they need to be sure they are filing a separate coded absentee ballot in its corresponding envelope for the primary.”

Match Envelopes Carefully

Democratic Registrar of Voters LeReine Frampton further clarified the meticulous process absentee voters must follow if they want both a budget ballot and a GOP primary ballot to count.

“If a voter puts their primary vote in the budget envelope, or their budget ballot in the primary envelope, the ballots will not be valid,” she said. “And if a voter puts both a primary absentee ballot and a budget absentee ballot into one envelope to save a stamp, only the ballot corresponding to the envelope will be counted, so the other ballot will be disqualified.”

At the middle school, a separate voting and check-in area, as well as separate voting equipment will be located on the left side of the middle school gym as voters enter for the GOP primary. Instead of making those voters exit the building, just to turn around and reenter to cast a budget vote as state law requires, Ms Frampton is creating an interior foyer or common area directly inside the entrance.

This will permit GOP primary voters to simply walk back into the common area, and across to the right side of the gym to check-in and cast a separate budget ballot.

In order to cast ballots in the primary, any eligible voter would need to enroll or register with the Republican party by Monday, April 23, at noon. Unaffiliated voters also have that same deadline to enroll with the Republican party if they wish to participate in the primary.

Voters can go online at www.sots.ct.gov to download voter registration forms, absentee ballot applications, and find out where their polling place is located. The four candidates to appear on the Republican Presidential Preference Primary ballot are: Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.

Mr Santorum, while still on the ballot, suspended his Presidential campaign April 10.