Thomas Breen Photo
Expect to continue seeing these downtown — and not in neighborhoods.
Alders had a lot of questions about how New Haven elections work and will work in the future. They received some answers for now, with more promised later.
The questions were posed and in some cases answered Thursday night at workshop held during a broader public hearing of the City Services and Environmental Policy Committee of the Board of Alders. The hearing took place over Zoom.
At the end of the meeting, the alders agreed to keep the questions about voting open, deciding that another workshop would be needed to fully address all of the questions.
During the same meeting, the alders approved a request to extend the residential parking zone on Huntington Street outside the 1st Presbyterian Church of New Haven. They also approved a five-year lease agreement between the city and the Community Placemaking Engagement Network (CPEN), which organizes educational programming to promote the use of the Farmington Canal Heritage Greenway in Newhallville. (Read a full story about that here.)
Under the agreement, CPEN would be able to lease 227 – 231 Shelton Ave. and 131 – 133 Hazel St. for $1 per year. CPEN’s Doreen Abubakar had initially requested a lease for 224 Shelton as well. The alders voted to remove that piece of land from the lease agreement because concerns were raised by Hazel Street resident Sean Reeves and the Livable City Initiative Deputy Frank D’Amore about a lack of community approval.
Following are questions alders asked during the elections workshop, and what they heard back.
Questions That Could Be Answered Now
Allan Appel File Photo
How accurate is the voting information on the city’s website?
Aaron Goode, a representative from the League of Women Voters, cited outdated information about changing parties and no information about who is eligible to receive an absentee ballot on the city’s website. He added that there is no mention that the absentee ballot eligibility law was changed in the most recent legislative session.
Deputy City Clerk May Gardner-Reed (pictured) responded that the website has been updated with information about absentee ballots.
What can be done to speed up the time between sending and receiving the applications for absentee ballots?
The state General Assembly is considering a proposal to allow electors to request an absentee ballot online and increase access to voter registration. According to Gardner-Reed, the bill allows access only for voters to register and request an absentee ballot. It is not a way to get a ballot online. The ballot still has to go through the mail and in-person handling.
Absentee ballots for the Sept. 14 primary will be ready on Aug. 24 and handled via mail.
Can people use ballot drop boxes outside of 200 Orange St.? If you can, for what? How often will they be checked?
As of now, the legislature has approved New Haven’s ballot drop boxes for continued use in the future. There are five drop boxes in total around the 200 Orange Street area where people can drop their absentee ballots.
“We can maximize their [the boxes] impact by having them in multiple locations,” suggested Prospect Hill/Dixwell/Newhallville Alder Steve Winter. “That would make it easier for folks who aren’t able to come downtown to make use of those boxes.”
Gardner-Reed said that the plan for now is to continue using only the downtown ballot box locations due to security concerns. Winter suggested putting drop boxes in police substations where there is video monitoring, Gardner-Reed said that they would have to assess the potential for vandalism and retrieval complications.
Is the plan for the upcoming election to continue to use two different systems for tracking absentee ballots, or will we rely solely on the state’s system?
In the past election, there were two systems for tracking absentee ballots: New Haven’s system and the state Central Voter Registration (CVR) system. According to Gardner-Reed, the city will use just the state system in the next primary and general election. Currently the clerk’s office is working with the state IT department to pair New Haven’s ballot label makers to the CVR system.
Questions To Be Answered At A Subsequent Workshop
Alders virtually attending Thursday night’s virtual hearing.
• What will the city do to inform people about how redistricting may affect them and their votes?
• How can the city avoid delays in voting caused by college students who are unaware of where to vote and which line to join?
• Can we set up a “find your polling location’“feature on the city’s website to allow voters to input their name and address to find the correct location?