New Haven Independent

“The thing that’s hard for me to see is the way the campaigns pull votes,” said Deputy Secretary of State Lesley Mara (pictured). “That man said ‘no.’”

Mara was discussing a recent incident in New Haven where veteran vote-puller Brian McGrath convinced a mentally unstable voter named Vito to come out to the polls despite his initial shrieks of protest. After crying out “I don’t want to vote!” in apparent panic, Vito heeded McGrath’s command and consented to be driven from his home to the polls. A second campaigner, teaming up with McGrath to pull votes for Democrats Alderwoman Ina Silverman and Mayor John DeStefano, was later kicked out of the polling room for following Vito into the voting booth without his consent. The Nov. 6 incident was first described in this Independent article. The State Elections Enforcement Commission — which does not routinely launch investigations based on complaints — has decided to probe this incident to see if any laws were broken.

Mara was asked about the incident at a meeting of the New Haven Commission on Disabilities in City Hall Monday. Commissioner Linda Reeder brought up the topic, saying she was concerned that a vulnerable person had been subject to “coercion.” Mara said she shared those concerns.

“I looked [at the article] and saw, is this how you pull votes?” Mara said. “No means no.”

Judge Not

Mara also tore into a local poll official, Republican Assistant Registrar of Voters Brian Green, for comments he made to the Independent in the polling station at the Edgewood School. After watching Vito struggle several times to complete the ballot, voting for three mayors instead of one, Green questioned the voter’s mental competence and said he might be autistic.

Green “should have kept his comments to himself,” said Mara. Only one person can decide if a voter is mentally competent — the probate judge. The determination must be made at a serious hearing, not by unproductive “banter,” she said. Until the probate court holds such a hearing and decides a person is not competent, “that person has the same rights as everybody else.”

Mara called it “troubling” to see an election official “making judgments as to who deserves to vote.”

McGrath has stood by his actions all along, saying he treated Vito (pictured) just as he would treat any other voter without a disability. All registered voters have the right to vote, he argued. He said Vito thanked him for bringing him to the polls.

Ends And Means

Michelle Duprey, the city’s director of disabilities, said she found it “extremely troubling” that the state elections probe is examining the voter’s competence. “I hope they abandon that aspect of the investigation,” said Duprey.

What Duprey and others did want to see probed was whether or not the voter was coerced. Jeffrey Kerekes, the citizen watchdog whose complaint kicked off the probe, said coercion was the main concern he and others had as well.

At the Edgewood School, McGrath’s vote-pulling companion, “Uncle Stan” Saxe, accompanied Vito into the cafeteria, where the polling took place. Saxe had a Silverman sticker on his shirt and baseball cap. No campaign paraphernalia is allowed inside the voting room. After polling staff caught Saxe at the door, Saxe slipped off his hat and used it to cover his chest where the campaign sticker lay.

Saxe then went in with Vito to the station where he was going to fill out his ballot. He stood over his shoulder at the station. Because of the new type of SAT-style ballots, voters make their choices not at an old-school voting booth with curtains, but at a table with privacy walls. Polling staff again spotted Saxe.

Did Vito want Uncle Stan in the booth? “No,” came the reply and Saxe was booted out.

Mara said she found Saxe’s behavior concerning. Campaign workers supervising voters’ ballots is “not appropriate,” she said.

In the end, after several attempts and instructions from poll workers, Vito succeeded in voting on his own. He praised the experience in the car on the way home.

For Mara, however, questions remain about the tactics employed. “Voter turnout doesn’t mean much if someone was coerced,” she said. “The ends don’t justify the means.”

For anyone with outstanding disability-related concerns about the November 2007 election, the Secretary of the State’s office is holding a post-election briefing with disability advocates. The meeting take place Wednesday from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in Room 1A of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.

For additional info call Deputy Secretary Mara at (860) 509-6212 or via this e-mail.