Smart, Brown.
The State Elections Enforcement Commission has ruled that the city clerk’s reasons for suspending his deputy clerk are unfounded.
Last May, City Clerk Michael Smart suspended his deputy, Sally Brown, after alleging that she had violated state law by preparing the absentee ballots for the 2016 presidential election, falsely certifying nominating petitions in 2014 and 2015, and certifying absentee ballots for the 2014 primary. All of which Smart claimed Brown had no authority to do. He filed a complaint with the SEEC, which agreed to investigate.
Brown maintained that she had done nothing wrong. In a Feb. 15 report, the election commission agreed with her. Read the full report, with details of the allegations and Brown’s defenses, here.
The commission wrote that Brown’s longstanding position in the Clerk’s office — serving as the part-time elected clerk in 1986, and then being made the full-time deputy clerk — rendered her authorized to complete the tasks: “[I]n the course of her service over the decades, Ms. Brown was charged with assisting in the administration of that office’s duties and responsibilities pertaining to elections based on her employment with the City of New Haven.”
The commission further concluded that Smart’s allegations were “not supported by fact,” and that Brown “did not violate Election Laws as alleged and therefor this matter is dismissed.”
“Ms. Brown as New Haven Deputy CityTown Clerk did not violate Election Laws as alleged and therefore this matter is dismissed,” SEEC Vice-Chairman Salvatore A. Bramante wrote in the decision.
“Sally’s going to get a letter to return to work,” Smart said Friday. “There will be a disciplinary hearing to answer the charges.”