Democracy’s Torch Passes

Shannel Evans received a hug — and inherited an even bigger legacy — after she was sworn into a new job Tuesday.

Evans took the oath to become New Haven’s new Democratic registrar of voters.

She succeeds Sharon Ferrucci, who held the job since 1988.

Ferrucci oversaw the modernization of the office, cultivated hundreds of citizen poll-checkers and election moderators, and calmly and authoritatively moderated more histrionic disputes than a World Wrestling Federation referee.

“I have come to this decision after much soul searching,” Ferrucci, who is 78 years old, wrote in her resignation letter to Mayor Toni Harp. ​“However, due to the demands and changes in my personal life and with respect to the position of Registrar of Voters and the voters we serve, I am sure that this is the right thing to do.”

Evans (pictured), who had been the deputy Democratic registrar, took the oath Tuesday from city Corporation Counsel John Rose. She will fill out Ferrucci’s term, which runs through December.

New Haven elects both a Democratic and a Republican registrar. Evans, who is 27 and got started in politics and community work as a teen with the Dwight Community Management Team, Tuesday called it a ​“strong possibility” that she will run for a full term. Former Deputy Registrar Helen Powell has also expressed interest in running.

In the meantime, Evans vowed to follow Ferrucci’s formidable lead, ​“to continue to make [the office] a success and help reach out to other people” to vote. Asked what she learned most working for Ferrucci the past three years, Evans responded: ​“Stay humble.”

Ferrucci (pictured) didn’t know she was embarking on a career of signing up voters, maintaining registration lists, processing candidate petitions, and organizing elections when she began a temporary voter clerk and typist job in the second-floor office at 200 Orange St. in February 1979. The person she temporarily replaced never returned. Meanwhile, Ferrucci found she enjoyed working with the public to involve people in the democratic process.

Back then, the staff kept all records by hand, including voter registration information and ward voting lists. They would send the forms to ​“the keypunch girls in IT.”

In 1988 Ferrucci ascended to the top position, succeeding Democratic Registrar Frank Rossi. Rossi was the last male to work in the office. Since then, Ferrucci and Republican Registrar Rae Tramantano, and then Republican Delores Knight, have overseen a six-woman office that works tirelessly, especially at election time, pulling 16-hour days. They also work in bipartisan harmony.

Over the years, Ferrucci and her colleagues developed their own computerized systems to compile and maintain voter lists. They managed the transition from old-fashioned lever machines to modern scanners. (Ferrucci is pictured with the sample machine the office previously used to show voters how to cast votes.)

A big challenge has been to find hundreds of citizens to put in 16 to 18-hour shifts on Election Day to work the polls and tabulate results. After the most recent redistricting, the number of needed workers — who earn between $130 and $400 for those double shifts, plus training time — has grown to over 400 for some elections. It could have been even higher, but Ferrucci and her staff worked with the state to consolidate some fractured districts (where state districts conflict with municipal ward boundaries) to save money.

Tempers sometimes ran high when candidates jockeyed to earn spots on ballots, tried to comply with paperwork requirements, questioned absentee ballots, or when late-night counts or recounts were close. Ferrucci always remained calm and drew on her extensive knowledge of regulations to explain the rules.

Before it became a common practice, Ferrucci and her crew visited high schools to register young voters. On election days, she started work at 3:30 a.m. and returned home well after midnight. And never minded.

“I love what I did. I always have,” she said. ​“It was the personal contact, being part of the process. People fought and died for the right to vote,” so it’s important that citizens exercise that right.

“I’m proud of seeing changes that were made [in the office]. And the girls — we’re quite a team.”

Ferrucci Tuesday was finishing up two weeks of cleaning out her office. She took with her a framed JFK photo inherited from Frank Rossi as well as a poster from a favorite movie (pictured).

She joined the ​“girls” for one final lunch in the office. Then the rest got back to work — processing petitions for the next election, for town committee positions.