Board of Alders map
These redistricted ward boundaries will govern the upcoming elections.
The office of the state’s top election official has decided not to challenge New Haven’s plans to conduct the upcoming primary and general elections according to newly-redistricted ward maps — despite maintaining that alders should have put the new maps into effect at least 90 days before the primary.
This development means that, as alders had planned, the Sept. 12 primary election and the Nov. 7 general election will continue to operate according to the city’s newest ward map. Voters have already begun submitting absentee ballots based on the new ward boundaries.
The decision resolves lingering uncertainty about exactly how elections would unfold in New Haven, following a disagreement between the Secretary of the State’s office and local election officials about the legality of an August ordinance amendment passed by the Board of Alders regarding the city’s new ward boundaries.
It confirms that, for instance, some Woodward Avenue and Kneeland Road residents will be voting at Nathan Hale School in Ward 18 this year (where incumbent Alder Sal DeCola faces a challenge from Susan Campion) rather than where they used to vote, at the Woodward Avenue Firehouse in Ward 17 (where incumbent Alder Sal Punzo faces a challenge from Camille Ansley).
Both a map of the updated ward boundaries and a list of polling places are available on the city’s website.
The Board of Alders originally approved the new ward lines, which they redistricted as required based on 2020 Census population data, on May 23, 2022. The legislation passed at the time indicated that the new lines “will take effect on January 1, 2024,” at the start of a new term for elected officials.
Then on Aug. 7 of this year, alders unanimously voted in favor of “amending the effective date from January 1, 2024 to August 7, 2023” by way of an ordinance amendment. The goal, as Majority Leader and Westville Alder Richard Furlow stated at the time, was to ensure that the fall 2023 elections would operate according to the new ward boundaries — so that voters who have been redistricted could elect the people who would actually be representing them in January.
The Secretary of the State’s office subsequently determined that the decision contradicted a state law (CGS§ 9 – 169), which requires that changes to local district lines must be made at least 90 days before an election. According to the Secretary of the State’s office, changing the ward map’s effective date to Aug. 7 — fewer than 90 days before the Sept. 12 primaries — violated this statute, and therefore New Haven would have to use the old maps for both the primary and the general elections.
On Thursday evening, a spokesperson for the Secretary of the State’s office confirmed that though its position has not changed, it will not challenge New Haven’s decision to operate elections according to new ward maps because absentee voting has already begun.
“Our opinion remains that the August 7 vote to amend the effective date of New Haven’s redistricting plan did not occur in advance of the statutorily required 90 days before an election – in this case, the September 12 primaries,” wrote spokesperson Tara Chozet. “We will not further pursue this matter given that the primary date is less than two weeks away and the fact that absentee ballots are already available. Any action would only cause more confusion for candidates and voters in New Haven.”
City officials including Furlow maintained, meanwhile, that the alders’ actions had not violated state law because the ward map itself was finalized in 2022. Furlow framed the Aug. 7 vote as a “clarification” rather than a substantial change to ward boundaries.
“You have to look at the intent of legislation,” Furlow said on Friday morning. He noted that back in 2022, Alder Sal DeCola — who vice-chaired the board’s redistricting committee — had indicated an intention to conduct the 2023 elections according to the new ward lines. (DeCola had stated on the floor, “These are our 2024 new wards. … We will run in 2023 to represent the map we are electing today.”)
“The only thing we did on Aug. 7 was to clarify what we did in May so that there was no confusion with the [Registrar of Voters’] office,” said Furlow. “I don’t think the dates were as clear as they should have been.”
A “whereas” clause in the Aug. 7 ordinance amendment states that “subsequently it has become clear through many means and conversations with the Registrars of Voters the best effective date would be August 7, 2023.”
Furlow maintained that the alders’ decision was the right one, especially for the sake of voters’ whose wards were originally slated to change on Jan. 1: “If you want to talk about voter suppression — why would we pass a law for people to vote for people that are not gonna represent them? How does that make any sense?”
"the decision contradicted a state law"