At a state-mandated recount of votes cast on Nov. 2 in New Haven’s Annex neighborhood, auditors Wednesday came up with a perfect match — and an idea for change.
Republican Registrar of Voters Rae Tramontano (pictured) said she was pleased – and hardly surprised – by the result. But she also saw a need for improvement. She declared that she plans to go to Hartford o lobby against the state law mandating the audit. She said the law places too much of a burden on the big cities such as New Haven with many polling places..
Since the machine tabulators came into vogue in the middle of the decade, all registrars statewide like Tramontano and Democratic Registrar Sharon Ferrucci have been required each year to conduct an audit based on a random selection of 10 percent of the state’s 740 polling places.
This year, eyes were on the audit more than usual because of the closeness in particular of the gubernatorial race and snafus in Bridgeport.
In the random selection, New Haven was asked to audit the 17th Ward polling place at the firehouse on Woodward Avenue and the Sixth Ward spot at New Horizons School.
“We’re lucky,” Tramontano declared.
In years gone by, the random selection has resulted in New Haven having to audit up to eight ward polling places. That takes time and money
“There should be fairness,” Tramontano said.
Waterbury has also been hit in the past with a huge amount of auditing, she said. In the big pot all 740 polling places are tossed into, “Ashford, with one polling place, is likely never to get picked.”
On Wednesday morning the registrars supervised the opening of the black duffel bags containing the ballots from the 17th and the Sixth Wards. By law they must keep ballots from the most recent election for up to 22 months. Thus all the black duffel luggage in the basement of the 200 Orange St. municipal office building.
Carefully following an “Audit Procedure Manual” provided by the secretary of state’s office, Tramontano made sure the seal had not been tampered with.
Then four experienced people, hired for the occasion, sat down, two to hand count the 17th and two for the Sixth. They included Nancy Ahern, a Republican, and Alfred DelVecchio (pictured), a Democrat.
They got to work on the 17th, with 1035 votes to be reconciled.
Likewise for the Sixth where two Kathies, Kathy DelVecchio (Democrat) and Cathy Burgert (Republican, pictured) did the honors.
With only 37 votes cast in the Sixth, the audit was finished within 15 minutes. However there was a discrepancy. The voting machine registered 37 cast. The manual counters found only 32.
The reconciliation? The audit had randomly required checking only three lines – for governor, attorney general, and state senator. The five that registered on the machine but not by hand had in common that nobody voted for governor on them .
Over at Ahern’s and DelVecchio’s table, after four hours of counting there was perfection: 1035 machine counted and 1035 manually counted.
“We did it right again,” declared Ferrucci.
“Hallelujah,” said Tramontano. She was being ironic. She expected no less.
The registrars then filled out an audit form with the results and faxed and mailed to Hartford.
“We’re confident it comes out each time. But you never know, so we pray,” Tramontano said.
Speaking of prayers…
“I’m going for legislation to put a cap on it for one city. I think three or four” is enough, she said.