Only Democrats May Check Voter Lists

When polls open Tuesday, Mayor John DeStefano’s reelection campaign will have people stationed at polling places to double-check official voter lists and send information back to vote-pullers. Mayoral challenger Jeffrey Kerekes will not have the same opportunity.

That’s according to a decision by Sharon Ferrucci, the town’s Democratic registrar of voters. She said Thursday that she has turned down a request by Kerekes to have unofficial vote-checkers placed in polling places on Tuesday Nov. 8.

Ferrucci said she’s just following state law.

A Connecticut election attorney interpreted the law differently. Michele Mount, who’s argued in front of the state Supreme Court and run for office herself, said the law gives the registrar discretion to allow a candidate like Kerekes to have vote-checkers at the polls.

If Mount is right, then Ferrucci isn’t simply following the law; she’s choosing not to exercise her power to permit Kerekes to have vote-checkers.

In either case, because no Republicans are running for any office in New Haven this year, Ferrucci’s decision means that only Democrats will have unofficial checkers at the polls keeping an eye out for fraud.

The law in question is Connecticut General Statute 9 – 235. Click here to parse it for yourself.

Kerekes is running in the Tuesday general election as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to DeStefano, who’s seeking a record-setting 10th term in office. Kerekes petitioned back in the summer for a spot on the general election ballot.

He’s running with a fraction of the money of DeStefano, who will have an extensive field staff in place on Tuesday, including vote-checkers at polling places.

A campaign uses vote-checkers to keep track of who’s voted at a specific polling location, and to keep an eye on the proceedings to make sure, say, people haven’t voted twice under different names, or dead people haven’t arrived to pull levers. Vote-checkers can be an essential source of up-to-the-minute election day information, allowing a campaign to deploy its vote-pulling resources effectively.

Ferrucci noted on Thursday that DeStefano is entitled to have vote-checkers in the polls, since he’s the party-endorsed Democratic candidate.

Kerekes, as a petitioning candidate, is not allowed to have vote-checkers, she said. ​“It’s just the law.”

If Kerekes were part of a slate that had at least two other names on his ballot line, then the law would require Ferrucci to give him vote-checker slots.

Av Harris, spokesman for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, concurred with that interpretation of Statute 9 – 235. He said the registrar does not have discretion on the matter.

Attorney Mount read the law differently. ​“The registrar has broad discretion,” she said.

The law lays out maximums for vote-checker appointments in races with major parties or petitioning slates of three or more candidates, but it does not preclude the appointment of vote checkers under other circumstances, Mount said. ​“Its language is not to me exclusionary.”

Mount worked on the case that won Bridgeport mayoral candidate Mary Jane Foster a spot on the primary ballot this year after the town’s registrar of voters denied it to her. Mount also served as Bridgeport’s attorney in 2007 when state Rep. Chris Caruso challenged the results of the city’s Democratic mayoral primary, which pitted him against then state Sen. Bill Finch.

Besides her lawyerly experience, ​“I’ve worked on many, many political campaigns,” Mount said. ​“I’ve been a candidate myself a few times.” She said that’s all led to a familiarity with election law — and with the importance of unofficial vote-checkers.

They are an important part of a successful election-day campaign operation, Mount said. They cross off the names of voters as they cast their ballots. Runners collect the lists periodically, take them back to campaign headquarters and check them against lists of identified voters. Campaigns can then see which of their supporters have voted, which wards they are strong in, and where they might need to send more vote-pullers.

“It’s an invaluable in a get-out-the-vote effort,” Mount said. ​“They’re the candidates’ eyes and ears within a polling place.”

Vote-checkers not only give a candidate an advantage; they can monitor any kind of voter complaints or polling problems that arise, Mount said. And they create a record if there is any discrepancy with official voting results, she said.

With a limited campaign war chest, Kerekes would not likely be able to field vote-checkers in each of the city’s 32 polling places anyway. But he could station workers at some voting locations that are key to his efforts.

“I’m aware of the state law on this issue. Unofficial checkers are a mainstay of campaigns and should be available to all candidates,” said Kerekes.

“I think people should follow the law, whatever it is,” said Mayor DeStefano.

City spokesman Adam Joseph later clarified the mayor’s position: ​“Jeff [Kerekes] should be able to have vote checkers.” He had them in the primary, Joseph said. ​“We believe in an open and fair process.”

Joseph cautioned that neither he nor the mayor are election law experts. But the mayor does not have a problem with Kerekes having vote-checkers in the polls on Tuesday, Joseph said.

The DeStefano team embraced the idea of allowing Green Party aldermanic candidates having vote-checkers at the polls in 2001 aldermanic elections, the last time the issue was known to arise. They did not have three-person slates running in any wards in that election.