Absentee Ballot Boxes To Stay Downtown

The city’s four absentee ballot drop-boxes will remain downtown — even as the city’s only primary election in September will take place in Newhallville.

Assistant City Clerk May Gardner-Reed delivered that news Monday night during an election-centered workshop hosted by the Board of Alders City Services and Environmental Policy (CSEP) Committee. The two-hour virtual meeting took place online via Zoom and YouTube Live.

Gardner-Reed and Republican Registrar of Voters Marlene Napolitano called in to the meeting to answer a flurry of voting-related queries in the run-up to Sept. 14’s Democratic primary in Newhallville and Nov. 2’s citywide general election.

City/Town Clerk Michael Smart and Democratic Registrar of Voters Shannel Evan did not attend Monday’s workshop.

Most of the alders’ questions Monday focused on absentee ballots:

• Who’s eligible to vote absentee this year during the ongoing pandemic?

• Do interested voters have to apply to receive absentee ballots? Or will they receive those application forms automatically?

• And what about those nifty absentee ballot curbside drop boxes currently stationed around the municipal office building at 200 Orange St.?

Gardner-Reed and Napolitano explained that Connecticut will allow no-excuse absentee voting again this year, thanks to a bill passed this summer by the state legislature.

That means that — just like during last year’s national primary and general election contests — any Connecticut resident can vote absentee. All they have to do is cite ​“Covid-19” as their reason for why they want to vote absentee while applying for an absentee ballot.

Unlike last year, Gardner-Reed said, New Haven’s city/town clerk’s office will not be sending out absentee ballot applications automatically to all registered voters.

“We’re not doing any mass mailings to the public again,” she said. ​“If somebody wants an absentee ballot, they can request one through the mail” or directly at the city/town clerk’s office on the second floor of 200 Orange St.

Gardner-Reed said that voters who want to mail their filled-out absentee ballots to the city/town clerk’s office will also have to pay for their own postage this year. Last year’s mailing costs were covered by the state.

And yes, Gardner-Reed said, primary and general election voters will be able to drop off their absentee ballots directly in one of four drop boxes that remain standing around 200 Orange and the back entrance to City Hall.

The placement of the four drop-boxes prompted another series of questions from alders, and members of the public.

Do the drop-boxes have to remain downtown? Can one perhaps be moved to Newhallville — which is where the only primary in the entire city will be taking place this September? That’s the race for the Democratic nomination for Ward 20 alder.

Gardner-Reed replied that, regardless of the fact that New Haven’s only primary election will be taking place several neighborhoods away, the drop boxes will be staying right where they are downtown.

Gardner-Reed noted that the four drop boxes are ​“bolted down to the sidewalk, so they’re not easily moveable. We would have to hire a company to move it.”

She also said city would also need to get permission from the state. ​“There’s a procedure.”

And she said that the drop boxes, which are owned by the state but controlled by the city clerk’s office, must remain downtown for ​“security reasons.”

So far, Gardner-Reed said, the four drop boxes that have stood outside and around 200 Orange St. for a full year now have suffered from only ​“minimal vandalism.” Just some graffiti; no attempts to damage or try to open the boxes.

Nevertheless, ​“we have decided that, no, the boxes will remain where they are, for security reasons.”

“I do find it disappointing that there’s no ability to move the drop-box,” Downtown Alder Abby Roth said. Ward 20 ​“is the only ward in the city with a primary election.” With Covid rates on the rise, there will likely be quite a few Newhallville residents who want to vote absentee — and who would appreciate the convenience of having a drop-box nearby, she argued.

“I think it would be worthwhile to unbolt it and move it temporarily. I’m sorry that it can’t be moved for the primary.”

Prospect Hill/Newhallville/Dixwell Alder Steve Winter agreed.

He suggested that the city/town clerk’s office look at potential drop box locations like the police substation on Winchester Avenue or Lincoln-Bassett School, ​“where there might be video cameras or other things that would allay some of the concerns around security. I think there could be some locations where the concerns would be addressed.”

During the public testimony section of the workshop, Aaron Goode — a Fair Haven Heights resident and executive committee member of the local chapter of the League of Women Voters — said ​“it doesn’t make that much sense to have four drop boxes downtown and none in the actual ward where there is an election going on.”

Click here for more information about how to vote absentee this municipal election cycle.