Paul Bass Photo
Registrar of voters staff hard at work preparing for election.
First new mayor in 20 years: Check. Changes to the city’s foundational document: Check. Clerk & aldermanic races: Check.
New Haven votes on those matters Tuesday. Here’s the rest of the checklist:
• Figure out where to vote. For some people that’s gotten complicated this year, because of bizarre redistricting. Some East Rockers who used to walk a block or two to the polls now travel a mile or past several other voting places. Eastern Streeters, among others, have been trying to figure out new places to vote. Click here to find out your exact spot. If you’re still confused, call the registrar of voters office at (203) 946‑8035. Polls open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Fair Haven Heights candidate Rosa Sanatana seeks clarification from Democratic Registrar Sharon Ferrucci on confused voters’ polling places.
• If you’re not registered to vote — register! For the first time ever, people can sign up to vote on Election Day itself, then cast ballots. Read about that here.
• Read up on the mayor’s race, then cast a vote. Mayor John DeStefano is retiring after two decades in office. Democrat Toni Harp and petitioning candidate Justin Elicker — the last survivors on the campaign island after nearly a year of jockeying by a colorful cast of characters — are seeking to replace him.
They have participated in some 17 or so debates. This article and this article offer round-ups of many of their different positions and policy proposals.
You can also see more of their positions and those of their vanquished final two opponents from the primary in the following stories about education, public safety, management and budget, and housing and urban development).
Elicker and Harp have also put extensive position statements on their web sites.
• Read up on the city clerk’s race, then cast a vote. Democrat Michael Smart is trying to knock the 10-year incumbent, Ron Smith, a petitioning candidate for this election, out of office. Click here, here and here for stories about their campaigns. Click here for a story about an 11th-hour absentee ballot scandal; the clerk’s office is responsible for handling absentee ballots.
• Check out two referendum questions on the ballot, then cast votes. The questions ask whether the city should amend its charter. One question would create a “hybrid” school board, partially elected, partially appointed by the mayor. (Right now New Haven has the state’s only mayorally appointed board.) Question two is a hodgepodge of technical wording changes to the charter; a name switch from “Board of Aldermen” to “Board of Alders”; enshrining a civilian review board (for police misconduct) in the document; and requirements that the aldermen (or “alders”) approve top mayoral appointments and many commission appointments. Overall, the suggestions add up to a proposed weakening of New Haven’s strong-mayor form of government. Click here for a background story on the two questions; click here to see where the Register came down on the questions in an editorial.
• Vote for alderman, especially if more than one candidate is running in your ward. Some wards have contested races; many don’t. The following wards have races; hyperlinks will lead you to stories about them. In some cases you must write in the name of the candidate.
Ward 1 (Yale): Democrat Sarah Eidelson vs. Republican Paul Chandler
Ward 6 (City Point): Democrat Delores Colon and Republican Frank Lobo
Ward 8 (Wooster Square): Independent Andy Ross vs. Democrat Aaron Greenberg
Ward 10 (East Rock/ Cedar Hill/ Fair Haven/ Quinnipiac Meadows/Bishop Woods): Democrat Anna Festa vs. Republican William Wynn
Ward 11 (Bella Vista): Democrat Barbara Constantinople vs. write-in candidate Patricia DePalma
Ward 25 (Westville): Incumbent Democrat Adam Marchand vs. write-in candidates Michael Pinto and Aaron Freeman.
Ward 27 (Beaver Hills, Westville): Democrat Angela Russell vs. write-in candidate Kevin Diggs