Registrars Shut Out Of Voting Machine Demo

By John Voket

Despite a pending townwide recount looming hours away, the two local Registrars of Voters apparently wasted most of the day last Monday trekking halfway across the state only to return frustrated and angry after being misled by information from the Secretary of the State’s office. LeReine Frampton and Karen Aurelia told The Bee Tuesday that they were initially informed by mail about a training session related to the new electronic voting machines.

Following the training, the local registrars understood that they would be able to examine and try out the final three machines in the running for statewide use come January 2006, when federal legislation mandates the entire country make fully accessible voting terminals available at polling locations.

After arriving in Hartford early Monday, however, local voting officials learned the “training session” would neither provide hands-on access to the new voting technology, nor incorporate hands-on training on prototypes of any of the electronic machines being made available to the general public at various locations around the state this week.

Then, adding insult to injury, the registrars were directed to public demonstrations in Manchester to get access to the prototype machines following the so-called “training session” in Hartford, only to be turned away by individuals running the demonstrations.

“Oh, I was pretty angry,” Ms Frampton said. “We wasted the whole day running around for nothing.”

Ms Aurelia said the “training session” was merely an opportunity for each of three vendors vying to supply each state municipality with the required technology to be compliant with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to discuss how and how long it would take to train local voting officials once one of the machines was chosen.

“I thought we were going to learn aspects of the training with each of the machines, and get information on the machines,” Ms Aurelia said. “We expected the machines to be there. Instead we got a lecture from one [of the potential suppliers] and slide shows from the two others telling us it would take three days to train moderators and registrars. What on earth could take three days?”

Ms Aurelia said the only other piece of new information she gleaned from the Hartford junket was that all Newtown’s poll workers would likely be asked to join workers from other communities at large general training sessions in centralized locations, instead of them all being trained by the supplying company representatives here in Newtown.

She said this new wrinkle in an already complicated proposal served to do nothing more than frustrate the process even further.

“I think it will be impossible to get 80 or 90 poll workers to a central location somewhere outside of Newtown on any given day,” she said.

Ms Frampton said she felt misled about the “training session” after reviewing a letter from Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz’s office about two weeks ago.

“We had to leave here before 7 am to get to Hartford in time, only to find out there would be no machines to train on,” Ms Frampton said. “We were only told how training would be handled, how much time it would take, how to train for each poll position. The reps were told they couldn’t discuss specifics about the machines, couldn’t answer questions we needed answered about budgeting for the machines…it was more like a sales pitch than a training session.”

But then the registrars were told they would be allowed to get their hands on each of the machines by driving themselves ten miles further up the road to a mall in Manchester, where representatives from the University of Connecticut were conducting the first of five statewide polls on the new technology. But upon arriving at the mall, the Newtown registrars were told they would have to wait in line with members of the general public if they wanted to check out the machines.

“They had ropes and stanchions set up and we were told to expect a two-hour wait,” Ms Frampton said.

Exasperated and pressed to get back to Newtown for a 4 pm recount of Legislative Council votes from the previous week’s election, Ms Frampton sought out a Secretary of the State’s office representative who consented to allowing the registrars to bypass the line and receive a quick demonstration of the three machines.

But Ms Frampton said as the duo approached the first machine, they were intercepted by a representative from the UConn polling organization who told the registrars if they were unwilling or unable to wait the two hours in line, they would have to leave.

“The girl from UConn said we couldn’t just cut in front of the people who were waiting, who were members of the general public,” Ms Frampton said. “So what that means is we couldn’t get any of the questions we had about the machines answered, and we wouldn’t be able to provide input on the machine we thought would serve us best.”

Ms Aurelia said she was upset that on both counts, information she received from the Secretary of the State’s office was erroneous.

“The Secretary of the State’s office said we were getting training, and said we could go to Manchester and test the machines. We registrars are the ones who need to see them first. We’re the ones who have to budget for them and make sure everyone is trained on them so we don’t have problems on Election Day,” Ms Aurelia said.

Ms Frampton said that based on conversations with other registrars across the state, these front line voting officials are working very hard to answer questions on the local level with little or no real information from the state.

“The registrars are trying so hard to have our voices heard, and the towns are going to have to pay so much money for the machines,” Ms Frampton said. “We were supposed to have input on the machines, but now it looks like the state will be basing their decision on what the people say. I’m afraid they will be more inclined to recommend a machine based on how it looks instead of how it works, and how complicated it will be to train poll workers and the public to use them.”

The registrars said that if time permits, they may try and go early to a machine demonstration session planned for Friday, November 18, at Southbury Town Hall.

“Maybe the line won’t be as long at a town hall,” Ms Frampton said. “The Manchester demonstration was at a mall, that probably attracted a lot more people.”

Members of the public who are interested in seeing the new machines may attend the Southbury demonstrations set for 9 am to 8 pm at the Southbury Government Center at 501 Main Street.

Following their frustrating day of travel Monday, the registrars were able to attend the local recount that was called by Town Clerk Cynthia Simon after Legislative Council races in each of the town’s three voting districts registered some tallies closer than 20 votes.

The recount, however, yielded virtually the same results overall as the original counts on Election Day with all resulting race outcomes unchanged. The only difference the recount yielded was that council co-chair Timothy Holian was credited with an additional single vote to his original tally.