Voting Officials: Have ID Ready And Keep The Lines Moving

By John Voket

Voters may disagree passionately about which candidates will better serve our country, state, and legislative districts in the coming years, and prioritizing the most important issues in next week’s election might run the gamut from health care to the economy to Alaskan oil exploration. But almost everyone agrees that next Tuesday may be one of the most important days in recent history.

During an awards ceremony last Monday evening in California, Walter Cronkite, once dubbed “the most trusted man in America,” suggested this may be the most important election “since the Civil War.” In his 77 years, Earl Smith, Newtown’s Democratic Town Committee Chairman, has seen a lot of elections, and as a self-described political animal, he agrees with Mr Cronkite 100 percent.

“I can’t remember when I’ve seen such passionate support for one or the other candidate,” he said Tuesday. “And there’s a stronger feeling out there; a fervor people have about this coming election.”

That heightened level of intensity may explain why Newtown Town Clerk Cynthia Simon has been going around and around with the Secretary of the State’s Office, and Registrars of Voters Karin Aurelia and LeReine Frampton have been working 12-hour days in recent weeks. These top three local voting officials have each surmised that the election of 2004 might bring the highest voter turnout in history to local polling places.

Publicity surrounding the national election, and a recent change in Connecticut voting laws, is also expected to draw unprecedented numbers of unregistered voters to Edmond Town Hall to cast presidential ballots November 2. But for everyone venturing out to the polls next Tuesday, the town clerk and registrars have some simple suggestions to make the voting process operate as easily and efficiently as possible.

“Have your ID ready, and use the sample ballots posted in each polling location to help you with your final decisions before you go in and draw the curtain in that voting booth,” Ms Frampton advises.

According to Ms Aurelia, even the rules about identification differ between what is required of registered voters at the polls, and what is required of unregistered voters seeking to support their presidential candidate.

When registered voters go to the polls, they will be required to have identification that matches their name on the voter rolls; that ID must also have either a picture, a signature, a Newtown address, or any combination of the three.

Ms Simon said when unregistered voters report to Edmond Town Hall’s old courtroom to cast a presidential ballot, they must show a picture identification reflecting a Newtown address, or another form of ID reflecting a Newtown address.

“Unregistered presidential voters can expedite the process by going directly to the old courtroom on the first floor, not to the town clerk’s office,” she said.

Ms Simon also reminds those who cannot be in town during polling hours to pick up, complete, and return that ballot to the town clerk’s office by 8 pm, November 2, if they want it counted. “Any ballots we receive by mail on the morning of November 3rd or later will not be counted,” she said. “They have to be in hand November 2, not postmarked November 2.”

And don’t come to the town clerk’s office next Tuesday looking for an absentee ballot. “We’ll just send you off to your proper polling location,” Ms Simon said. “If you’re in town, plan to vote in your district on Election Day.”

For those who may need to secure a last-minute absentee ballot, the town clerk’s office will be open Saturday from 9 am to noon. As of Tuesday, Ms Simon had logged 972 absentee ballot requests, but she’s certain that by next Monday, those requests will surpass the 1,120 she logged during the last presidential election in 2000.

While Ms Simon and her staff have been ramping up for the election and handling ongoing problems with the Secretary of State’s office during the workday, Newtown’s two registrars of voters have been so busy getting the onslaught of new voter registrations into the system that they have had no time to campaign against each other.

While Ms Frampton and Ms Aurelia hold opposing spots on next week’s ballot, you would never know it by seeing them working together. “Most people never even know our names when we’re dealing with them on their voter registrations,” Ms Aurelia said.

“And that’s the way we like it,” Ms Frampton chimed in amicably. No matter which registrar gets the most votes, both will return to work in the local office come November 3.

But up until next Tuesday they will both continue to log overtime. How busy can it be in such a modestly-sized town?

“We’ve had an overabundance of new voters,” Ms Aurelia said. Ms Frampton has been coming in to the office early for the past two weeks just to get through the voice mails left overnight from concerned residents.

“I had 29 [messages] this morning,” she said. “But this is the first day in more than a week that the voicemail system wasn’t full when I got here. Last Thursday it took me from 7 to 9:30 am just to get through the previous night’s messages.”

Once Election Day arrives, the registrars will be splitting their attention between presidential voters at Edmond Town Hall and the 25 voting machines dispersed among the town’s voting districts. And when voters go to the polls, Ms Frampton wants to be sure that every vote counts.

“Decide on your choices before you enter the booth, pull the red handle to the right, pull down and leave down one button in each column, and pull the handle back to the left to register your votes,” she said. “Be sure to vote for each candidate; there are no more party levers that allow you to vote for an entire slate with one handle.”