Registrar: It’s Safe To Vote

As the first absentee ballots start arriving in the mail, Shannel Evans has a message for voters: You have different options — all safe — for exercising your Constitutional right in the Aug. 11 primary.

You don’t even have to worry about sharing a pen to fill in a ballot.

“We’re working really hard to make sure this is a smooth election and every vote counts,” Evans, the city’s Democratic registrar of voters, said during an interview about those preparations this week outside the 200 Orange St. municipal office building. (See also, at the bottom of the story, a series of videos she made to provide information to voters.) ​“It’s still your opinion, your voice, your choice.”

The doors to the building, which includes her office, were locked. As they have been since the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

But inside, the registrar of voters and city/town clerk staffs on the second floor have been working without pause to prepare for the Aug. 11 primaries. That has required adjusting to state-mandated changes, updating voting rolls, handling registration requests, and rounding up 500 helpers to enable people to cast ballots without fear of contracting the coronavirus.

As usual in even-numbered election years, because some wards are divided into two separate state legislative districts, the city will field teams of moderators and checkers in 40 precincts at 33 locations. (In odd numbered years there are 33 precincts, one at each location.) Since the Republicans and Democrats are conducting separate presidential primaries, separate GOP and Democratic teams of poll workers need to be hired for each location. The workers make between $250 and around $400 for a 16-hour-plus day.

Many regular poll workers tend to be over 60, the age group most vulnerable to developing serious complications from Covid-19. So the registrars’ staff sat with each older person who signed up, Evans said. ​“They know what’s at risk. We ask if they’re comfortable.”

When they show up to work on Aug. 11, they will receive personal protective equipment: face masks, and sanitizer disposable gloves, and plastic face shields. The secretary of the state’s office has committed to providing PPE kits with all that. The poll workers will wear protective gowns as well. Their temperatures will be taken before they begin the day’s duties.

When voters show up at the polls on Aug. 11, they will have space to remain six feet apart from others on line, with a maximum of 20 people indoors at any time, Evans said. They will be able to make use of hand sanitizer. Workers will open the door for them. They’ll be asked to wear masks. Each voter will get a pen to fill out a ballot, and then keep (or dispose of) the pen, to allay fears of germ spread. The voting stations will be kept six feet apart; only two of the four stations at ​“quads” will be open at a time.

“We’re taking all the precautions we can,” Evans said.

If that still makes people nervous, they can vote by absentee ballot. The state sent absentee ballot applications to all registered Democrats and Republicans; on Wednesday it started mailing ballots to those who returned the applications, according to secretary of the state spokesperson Gabe Rosenberg. Voters can then mail in those ballots, or taken them to 200 Orange St. and drop them in one of two boxes stationed in front of the building (pictured).

Evans encouraged people to make sure they’re registered with a party if they intend to vote in the primary. The deadline has passed for voters registered with one party to switch to another in time for the Aug. 11 primary. Unaffiliated voters can still register as a Democrat or Republican by noon on Aug. 10 to cast a primary vote. To do so, or to check on your registration, call the registrar’s office at 203 – 946-8035 weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Or show up at 200 Orange St. during those hours and call upstairs to ask someone to come outside to sign you up.

Officials see the primary as ​“trial run” for the much busier Nov. 3 general election. In New Haven, the only race on the Aug. 11 primary ballot is for each party’s presidential nomination (which in truth has in effect already been decided). There are no contested local primaries. In the Nov. 3 general election, a full slate of state legislative and registrar of voters candidates will appear on the ballot.