Absentee Ballots Ready; 2 Of 4 Drop Boxes Closed

Hundreds of absentee ballots are now ready to be sent out to New Haveners looking to vote remotely in November’s election … while two of the city’s four absentee ballot drop boxes are currently closed, one because of a problem with its lock, the other because it was hit by a truck.

Update: As of Wednesday, both of the previously busted drop boxes had been fixed. Click here to read about those repairs.

That’s the latest with absentee voting in the Elm City in the runup to Nov. 8’s general election. 

On the ballot will be candidates for such offices as U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor, secretary of the state, attorney general, comptroller, treasurer, state representative, and state senator, as well as a question asking voters if Connecticut should allow for early voting.

According to city Assistant City-Town Clerk May Gardner-Reed, hundreds of blank paper ballots arrived from the printer at the city clerk’s office at 200 Orange St. Tuesday afternoon. That means that the clerk’s office can start sending out ballots this week to the roughly 500 New Haven voters who have already put in a request to vote absentee.

“We’ve been waiting” for these blank paper ballots since ordering them from the printer last week, Gardner-Reed said. Now ​“we’re ready to go” to start sending them out to voters.

Per the Secretary of the State’s website, Connecticut law allows voters to receive and cast an absentee ballot before Nov. 8 ​“if you cannot appear at your assigned polling place on election day because of active service in the Military, absence from the town, sickness, religious tenets forbid secular activity on the day of the election, duties as an election official at a polling place other than your own during all of the hours of voting, or physical disability.” 

Gardner-Reed said that New Haven voters can request an absentee ballot from the city clerk’s office up until the day before the general election. Click here to apply online.

Once an eligible city voter gets their absentee ballot, she said, they can then drop off the filled-out and properly sealed ballot at the city clerk’s office directly or in one of the drop boxes — or ​“kiosks” — that have stood outside of the 200 Orange St. municipal office building since 2020.

Only two of those four kiosks, however, are currently open and accepting ballots. (Kudos to the indispensable local Twitter feed @DFANewHaven for calling out this issue earlier on Tuesday.)

The two that are working and accepting ballots include the kiosk that stands on the sidewalk outside of the main entrance to 200 Orange St. and faces the sidewalk, as well as the kiosk that stands outside of the back entrance to City Hall just behind 200 Orange St.

The two that are not working and that are not accepting ballots include the kiosk that stands on the sidewalk outside of the main entrance to 200 Orange St. and faces the roadway, as well as the kiosk that stands a few dozen feet south on Orange Street near that accessible entrance to the municipal office building.

Gardner-Reed said that the closed kiosk near the 200 Orange St. main entrance is currently not accepting ballots because it was hit by a truck and, because of the damage caused by that crash, cannot properly be closed and secured. 

She said that the closed kiosk near the accessible entrance to 200 Orange St. is missing a lock and also cannot properly be closed and secured at this time.

She said the city clerk’s office has called a locksmith and will hopefully at least one of those drop boxes, if not both, back up and running before the election.

But for now, that means only two of the city’s four drop boxes are accepting absentee ballots. The ones that are not are clearly marked by a signs reading ​“Kiosk Closed.”

Click here and here for absentee ballot application forms that, when filled out, can be sent by mail or dropped off at the city clerk’s office on the second floor of 200 Orange St. Click here to apply online.