Registrars’ qualifications under scrutiny
Analysis finds 30% uncertified
Nearly five years after Connecticut passed a law requiring registrars of voters to receive training and certification, nearly one out of every three registrars remain uncertified.
This means they have not passed a certification exam and, in some cases, have not even started the coursework.
“We take this very seriously,” said Gabe Rosenberg, communications director for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s office. “We want to make sure we have trained registrars in every town because elections have become more than printing ballots. Elections have become a cyber security issue.”
Rosenberg said the state is making significant progress in getting local election officials up to speed.
The 2015 law aimed at strengthening Connecticut elections passed the state
Senate unanimously and cleared the House by a 126- 20 margin. When the law took effect Jan. 1, 2016, registrars had two years to complete 25 hours of training and pass a certification exam. Newly elected registrars have two years from taking office to become certified. Training classes center on topics like elec
tion law, maintaining voter lists, absentee voting, petitions and post- election audits.
A Hearst Connecticut Media analysis of registrars of voters from Merrill’s office and the list of those who have completed the University of Connecticut’s registrar’s certification class shows that about 31 percent of Connecticut’s 339 registrars are not certified. Most of those are still within their two- year window to complete the training, but more than 20 are out of compliance with the law because their time limit has expired.
Trumbull Republican Bill Holden is one of the holdouts.
Holden, 71, has been the GOP registrar for 25 years and was one of the first to complete the certification classes. He also passed the section quizzes that the state administered after each class, but has never taken the exam.
Holden said he had several reasons for not taking the exam, which is an open- book, 50- question multiple choice and true/ false test. The state website says it can be taken either at UConn’s Stamford campus or at the State Office Building in Hartford, although all tests currently listed take place in Hartford.
“The exam can take up to two hours, and driving to Hartford is a 2- 1⁄ hour round trip
2 from Trumbull,” Holden said. “That’s half a day for a test that they could just email to us at home.”
Holden, who took his training classes at UConn’s Stamford campus, said the state emailed him a section quiz on the same day he took each of the eight required classes, which range from 2 to 4 hours long. He was required to complete the online quizzes within 48 hours of receiving them.
“Why can’t they send us the exam?” he said. “What are we going to do, cheat on an openbook test?”
Rosenberg said the number of uncertified registrars has been declining steadily since the law’s passage.
“The law passed in 2015 and went into effect in 2016 and then registrars had two years to get certified,” Merrill’s communications director said.
After getting certified, registrars must complete eight hours of continuing education each year. This training can also be done from a list of approved classes or through state- approved seminars and conferences.
Starting in 2018, Merrill’s office began checking the certification status of the state’s municipal registrars and identifying those not in compliance with the law.
“What we found in 2018 was that some of the registrars in the state had done nothing at all to get certified,” he said. “They hadn’t taken the test, hadn’t taken any classes.”
Those registrars all received letters requesting their attendance at a “show cause” hearing, where they had the opportunity to explain their failure to begin the certification process. Many of them had not taken the training because, they said, they intended to retire. They were allowed to simply fall out of the system, Rosenberg said.
“We decided, ‘ OK you retire, and we’ll work with the new person,’ ” he said. “And of those people that we identified in the initial group, all of them have either gotten certified or agreed to retire.”
Now, with that first crop of registrars set to leave office later this year, the Secretary of the State’s office is turning its attention to the next wave of non- certified registrars. These generally are people who took at least some of the classes but did not take the exam. Danbury Republican registrar Mary Ann
Doran and Darien Democrat registrar Susan Gray fall into this category. Like Holden, both have completed their class work and section quizzes, but have not taken the exam despite being beyond the time limit to do so.
Doran did not respond to requests for comment.
Gray, who like Holden completed her classwork in Stamford, said she had planned to take the exam but had been prevented from doing so by a series of personal issues.
“I was caring for sick relatives because I was the only one local who could do it,” she said. “I had prepared for the exam and planned to take it, and then I had to spend months as a caregiver.”
In addition, Gray said, the possible spread of coronavirus meant that her office was putting in extra time preparing for the possibility that election staff would opt to work from home.
State registrars also are gearing up for a busy election season, with a Democratic presidential primary April 28, state primaries on Aug. 11 and a national election Nov. 3, she said.
“I had prepared to take the exam, and once I get through all this, I’ll review the course material and take it the next time it’s offered in Stamford,” Gray said.
Holden was more noncommittal about his certification. Although he intends run for reelection in 2020, he all but confirmed he would still be out of compliance with state law when the Trumbull Republican nominating convention took place.
“We’re already into March now, and the nominations are in May,” he said. “I don’t envision that happening.”
The impetus for the 2015 law was a series of mishaps that occurred in Hartford during the 2014 elections. Hartford’s registrars were late preparing the official voter registry lists, leading to 14 polling places opening late or without proper voter lists to check off names.
An unknown number of voters never cast a ballot. Others, including Merrill and then Gov. Dannel Malloy, waited in line to vote at polling locations that opened late. Other issues encountered that day included a 1,542- vote discrepancy between votes cast versus voters checked off as voting. That difference was never resolved.
When the next legislative session opened, Merrill declared that improving election administration was one of her top priorities. The final bill also gave her office the authority to remove registrars who demonstrate incompetence or noncompliance.
Rosenberg said so far the office has not taken removal action against any state registrar.
“We don’t want to punish them, or embarrass them,” he said. “We want them to complete the process and get certified.”