Laura Glesby photo
Democratic Registrar Shannel Evans: “I believe [early voting] went great, besides the numbers.”
New Haven voters will have a chance to cast their ballots early in the November election from Oct. 21 through Nov. 3 at City Hall — where about 10 parking spots will be reserved for voters.
Democratic Registrar of Voters Shannel Evans conveyed that information to alders at a City Services and Environmental Policy (CSEP) Committee meeting on Thursday night.
Evans joined Republican Registrar Marlene Napolitano and Deputy City Clerk Mamie Gardner to provide alders with an update on their goals and plans for the general election on Nov. 5, 2024 — which is expected to draw relatively high voter turnout due to the presidential election. State representative and state senate positions will also be on the ballot, as will U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy’s bids for reelection.
Evans took the lead on addressing a list of questions submitted by New Haven League of Women Voters Vice President Patricia Rossi, who asked the team to address New Haven’s relatively low turnout in the first two rounds of early voting.
Since the state instituted early voting this year, New Haven has implemented the system for two elections so far.
The presidential preference primaries in early April drew 238 early voters over the course of four days — 6.7 percent of all New Haven ballots cast in those races and less than 1 percent of all eligible Democratic and Republican voters in the city.
Next, a set of primaries for state representative and U.S. Senate in August drew 61 early voters over the course of seven days — 7.9 percent of all New Haven ballots cast and also less than 1 percent of all eligible voters for the two races in question.
“Parking was a challenge,” said CSEP Committee Chair Anna Festa. “It may have caused fewer people to come down” to vote early at New Haven’s sole early voting location, City Hall.
“The parking was really confusing,” echoed Hill Alder Kampton Singh.
Evans said that while the 10 parking spots available to voters on Church Street (and marked by meter bags) appeared to be sufficient for the number of voters, “we noticed that it didn’t grasp the attention of electors.” Going forward, Evans said her department plans to set up more signage indicating that parking spots are available for voters.
She added that for the upcoming Ward 3 special alder election on Sept. 16, for which early voting will take place at the Hall of Records, someone from her office will stand outside to direct voters to parking.
Other than the low turnout, Evans said, early voting went smoothly in New Haven. “I believe it went great, besides the numbers.”
When pressed about her office’s voter outreach and information-spreading efforts, Evans said that she has faced roadblocks in her attempts to advertise voting information on city buses and through robocalls. She said she does go out and table at community events, and that registered voters can learn about the process through mailers that her office sends out, or else on the city and state’s respective websites. “Any questions, do not hesitate” to contact her office during business hours, she added.
Hamden = Early Voting Model
Aaron Goode: Hamden has been "a big success story.”
Westville Alder Amy Marx asked Evans whether New Haven would be able to expand early voting locations beyond City Hall, potentially to schools or community centers in other neighborhoods.
Evans said she’s open to that prospect, but argued that more early voting locations would be logistically complex. The location would need to be open on weekends, and additional staff and equipment would need to be funded. “You need a place where we can have security,” so that people’s personal information — not to mention the ballots themselves — could be kept private. And the ballots might need to be transported back to her office eventually, as early votes are tabulated all at once on Election Day itself, raising another set of concerns about a secure ballot transport process.
In public testimony, voting advocate Aaron Goode recommended that the city look to Hamden for an example of a robust early voting rollout. Hamden has had “by far the highest percentage of early voting” turnout so far this year, Goode said. “They’re a big success story.”
Goode also raised concerns about whether voters will be adequately aware of the ballot question in the upcoming November election — a referendum on universal or “no-excuse” absentee ballots, which could enable voting by mail for all voters (rather than just the voters with one of a few preset reasons for being unable to vote on election day).
Goode noted that many people vote in some, but not all, of the elections on a particular ballot — and ballot questions in particular see far less participation than political races.
“We know that no one knows about the referendum question — and we also know that when people don’t know about a referendum, they vote no,” said Rossi. “We’d like to make sure people know what the referendum is.”
Per the Secretary of State’s office, “we were instructed about not reminding people that there is a question,” Evans noted. The poll workers aren’t allowed to explain the question, she said, beyond providing people with a link to the official description on the Secretary of State’s website.
By the end of the meeting, several committee alders came to the conclusion that the city’s voting process needs an outreach boost, especially when it comes to communicating key information about voting logistics.
As they work to operate a high-stakes and legally sound voting system, “we sometimes get a sense that city staff is so consumed with the mechanics of running things,” said Marx, that “they do not have the bandwidth” to also work on big-picture goals.
Beaver Hills Alder Tom Ficklin suggested that a task force could help devise a strategy to improve turnout and communication.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Hamden operated three early voting locations.
The CSEP committee, on Thursday.