The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Students cite ‘borderline voter supression’
BRIDGEPORT — Sacred Heart University students experienced “borderline voter suppression” at a North End polling place Tuesday, being mocked, insulted and in some cases turned away, the university and students said.
Students were made to sign affidavits despite bringing the necessary identification to the polls, SHU spokeswoman Deb Noack said.
Jamieson Bair, a SHU student from Pennsylvania, was turned away when he first tried to vote at Winthrop Elementary. He returned with his voter registration information that he received in the mail and was able to vote, he said.
He said he was “confused as to why the double verification is needed.”
Carlos Ruiz, one of the SHU students who organized a voter registration effort, said some students have had issues verifying their addresses.
He stood outside the entrance at Winthrop answering students’ questions and explaining why they might need to fill out an affidavit.
More than 900 SHU students registered to vote, he said, including about 600 in the North End.
SHU student Maria Bonaddio, who is from Norwalk, registered to vote in Bridgeport, and Pioneer Votes organizer Alessandra Leone had a copy of Bonaddio’s registration in her records. But when she tried to vote Tuesday, Bonaddio was told there was no record of her name on the voter rolls. She and her three roommates registered at the same time, she said; they were able to vote.
When they walked in, poll workers said “oh great, more Sacred Heart students” and were rude, Cat Cassata said.
She and Bonaddio said they wanted to vote in the election because of the potential ordinance change that would limit the number of unrelated residents in a house to three people; they’ve already signed a lease to live in a fourperson house next year.
Living on campus would cost them twice as much as living off campus, Claire Bulkley said.
“It seemed like they didn’t want us to vote,” said Jeremy McHale, who was also greeted with a frustratedsounding “here come the Sacred Heart students again,” he said.
He and Marissa Romano, who arrived to vote together, were told they needed to get their registration letters and then come back. After leaving the school, Ruiz told them they could instead ask to sign an affidavit and vote, which they were able to do when they went back inside.
Several other students who live in Fairfield mistakenly tried to vote at Winthrop, and were directed to the Fairfield polling location.
The Bridgeport Registrars’ Office said no one was immediately available to comment, and Democratic Registrar Sandi Ayala, who came to Winthrop and spoke with students, declined to comment.
City Councilwoman Michelle Lyons, whom many of the students said they were voting against, was also at the school talking to voters in the afternoon. She said the fallout from the proposed housing ordinance has been “pushed” on her, and that she was being made “a scapegoat.”
She wanted to wait for further discussion on the ordinance, because she had concerns about loopholes, she said, but “it didn’t even get to that point.”
The motivation to limit of people who can live in houses was fueled by safety concerns and about “making landlords be responsible,” she said, as well as about representing the concerns raised by her constituents.
Lyons said she wasn’t surprised by the large turnout from students, who she said “don’t know the whole story.”
Other voters said students’ confusion over the voting process showed that they shouldn’t be able to vote there.
Students at the polls said some were confused because dorms on one side of Park Avenue are in Fairfield, while dorms across the street are in Bridgeport, which led to some students initially going to the wrong place to vote.
Another man accused students of trying to vote twice, in both Bridgeport and their home districts.
Other students at Winthrop said they had no problems voting after providing their address and license.
Connor Hartgraves, assistant to the president at Sacred Heart University, said “students are coming out saying that there’s no line, but it’s taking them 40 minutes to vote.”
In many cases, Hartgraves said, students were being told they have to sign an affidavit, because the address on their license doesn’t match the address on their registration
Hartgraves said he doesn’t have a problem with this, but students have also told him that the moderators are mocking or insulting them, which isn’t acceptable.
“They’re being told ‘You don’t know your address because you don’t really live here,’ ” he said, adding that some students reported they’d been called “dumb college students.”
Hartgraves also mentioned that he had a food truck parked outside Winthrop, and that someone called a health inspector.
The truck, he said, is handing out coffee and doughnuts to all voters, regardless of their political affiliation. “And there’s nothing being cooked on the truck,” he said.
Hartgraves said, when the health inspector did arrive “he left shaking his head,” because it was obvious that there were no violations.
“They’re being told ‘You don’t know your address because you don’t really live here.’ ”
Amanda Cuda contributed to this story.