Absentee ballots should arrive by Monday, state officials say
New Haven — They’re in the mail.
Gabe Rosenberg, spokesman for the Secretary of the State’s Office, said Thursday the estimated 250,000 absentee ballots for the Aug. 11 primaries should be in voters’ hands by Monday at the latest.
Rosenberg, who has been fielding questions on this from concerned officials, said given the new process in place for absentee ballots, the Secretary of the State’s Office took a few extra days to make certain the more than 40 different ballots needed for the primaries were matched with the right voters.
Concerns about timely mail deliveries around the country arose this past week, the Associated Press reported, a month after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy took over the service. DeJoy imposed new cost-cutting measures, including eliminating overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers, and ending late trips, the AP reported. The Washington Post reported that the changes are “alarming postal workers who warn that the policies could undermine their ability to deliver ballots on time for the November election.”
Rosenberg, however, said he does not think this would make an impact on the Connecticut primary ballots.
“None of the changes that have happened already, as opposed to those proposed, should affect the ballots that are right now in the mail,” Rosenberg said. “These ballots are in the mail.”
About the November election, Rosenberg said he is always “worried about everything,” but officials in Connecticut are aware of concerns about mail delivery as well as what President Donald Trump has tweeted about postponing the election.
“We’ve taken that into account,” Rosenberg said, noting plans to ensure a smooth, timely process would including use of the ballot drop boxes sent to each town, getting ballots out in a timely way and a robust public information campaign.
In addition to the presidential candidates, Connecticut towns are voting Aug. 11 in contested state representative and state senate primaries, while some others also have local offices on the ballot.
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill sent registered voters absentee ballot applications, giving them the option of using an AB in the Democratic and Republican primaries, rather than going to the polls in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. This was approved by an executive order of Gov. Ned Lamont.
The state legislature this past week added fear of contracting the coronavirus as a reason for using an absentee ballot on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Lydia Bornick, a nonprofit consultant in New Haven who always helps out with elections, said she was worried about whether those voters who want to mail their ballots to the city clerk’s office will have time to do so.
Bornick said personally she will use one of the dropboxes in front of the Hall of Records in New Haven to deposit her ballot. She would like to see more of a city effort to draw attention to this option.
Every town has been sent an absentee ballot dropbox, almost all of which are placed curbside for easy reach.
Liz Saylor of New Haven, who works at the polls on Election Day, was frustrated by the delay in receiving an absentee ballot, but thinksultimately the process will be fine.
She sees the primaries as a “dry run” for the presidential contest. “We have a couple of months to kind of sharpen it up ... to catch the problems.”
Saylor does, however, worry about the mail system. As a personal example she said she was expecting documents from a family member last Friday. They didn’t show up until Wednesday.
May Gardiner-Reed, deputy city town clerk in New Haven, said some 6,000 residents filed absentee ballot applications.
“If there is any doubt at all, that you are worried that the mail will not get your ballot in time, then you can drop it in the dropbox. The moment it hits the dropbox, it is delivered,” Rosenberg said. “That can shave a significant amount of time off the process.”
Rosenberg advised voters using an AB to either mail it or put it in the dropbox early.
Gabe Rosenberg, spokesman for the Secretary of the State’s Office, who has been fielding questions from concerned officials, said given the new process in place for absentee ballots, the Secretary of the State’s Office took a few extra days to make certain the more than 40 different ballots needed for the primaries were matched with the right voters.