Over 20 voters showed up to Wilbur Cross High School by mid-day Tuesday only to learn they no longer vote there.
Some headed for their new site, over at Jackie Robinson School in Newhallville.
Others headed to Celentano Museum Academy to vote.
Other said they were headed home.
That was just one of several sites around town where confusion reigned during Tuesday’s primary election for the Democratic and Republican nominations for an open U.S. Senate seat.
Observers at polls around town already reported “pitiful” and “terrible” turnouts for the primaries, which pit Chris Murphy against Susan Bysiewicz for the Democratic nomination and Linda McMahon against Chris Shays for the Republican nomination.
Then came a wave of confusion.
That confusion stems from a double redistricting.
Many Democrats were told to report to new voting places this year, different from where they have voted in the past. That’s because the state has redrawn state legislative boundaries and the city drew new ward boundaries this year for local elections. In coming years, some voters will be voting at one polling place for municipal elections in odd-numbered years and different spots for state and national elections in even-numbered years. Some voters in the Annex neighborhood, for instance, will vote in Wooster Square some years, the Annex in other years. Some East Rockers have been moved to Ward 19, where they’ll vote at Celentano for municipal elections, but also to the 96th General Assembly District, meaning they’ll head to Wilbur Cross High School for statewide elections.
Adding to the confusion, some people got postcards from the city telling them to report to what turned out to be incorrect locations. Read about all that here.
Donald Hayden, moderator at the Ward 10 polling station at Wilbur Cross, said mid-day Tuesday that a few people told him “I’m going home” when they learned they had to schlep across town Jackie Robinson, because they’re now part of Ward 21.
“It’s been really, really confusing with the wards,” said Alyson Heimer, assistant Democratic registrar for ward 10. The confusion led poll workers to call downtown repeatedly for instructions, the most they remember needing to do so since the 2008 presidential election generated an influx of new voters.
Compounding the problems: a state website directing people where to vote apparently didn’t update some of the changes made locally, according to Republican Registrar of Voters Rae Tramantano.
“The state website is incorrect. I don’t know why. It’s not how we are conducting the election today,” she said.
Rather than check the state site, voters should call the registrar’s office to clear up any confusion, she advised. The number is 203 – 946-8035.
East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker said mistakes seem to have centered on small parts of Whitney and Lawrence Streets. people who live on 400 to 700 Whitney were listed on a Ward 10 voting list, but should have been voting at Celentano.
People on Lawrence Street were supposed to go to Jackie Robinson but also showed up on Ward 10 lists, where they used to land, he said.
Throughout town low turnout has been reported at polling stations. At Edgewood School, two poll workers were making progress on novels in between intermittent voter visits.
“Come wake us up!” said Virginia Downing, who was handing out ballots outside Celentano. When there were voters to whom to hand ballots.
“There’s people dying all over the world to be able to vote, and we can’t get more than 10 to 12 percent to vote,” said Bill Kaplan, a St. Ronan Street neighborhood organizer.
As of 2:30, 127 out of 1,220 registered Democrats had voted in Ward 21, and 12 of 70 Republicans.
The BOA's gerrymandering now reaps what it sowed. Disenfranchisement and more voter apathy.