Ballots in question in North Stonington due to missing signatures

Hundreds of ballots that were cast in North Stonington in recent weeks may not be counted after local election officials instructed voters not to sign ballot envelopes, which is required during early in-person voting.

The North Stonington Republican and Democratic Registrars of Voters posted a press release on the city’s website Saturday afternoon instructing voters who voted through early in-person voting between Oct. 21 and Oct. 31 that they need to return to their local polling location. to “correct your ballot.”

“During October 31, voters were inadvertently misinformed about the need to sign an early ballot envelope,” the report said. “As a result, ballot envelopes submitted during this period are deemed to have remained unsigned by voters, as required by law.”

The report does not indicate how many voters in North Stonington did not sign their ballot envelopes.

But in a telephone interview, Connie Berardi, the city’s Democratic registrar of voters, said about 1,000 ballots did not have the required signature.

In this year’s election, the ballot in North Stonington will select the president, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, two legislative seats and local registrars of voters.

By comparison, just over 3,000 voters cast ballots in North Stonington in the last presidential election in 2020.

Berardi referred other questions about ballot errors to the Connecticut Secretary of State, who oversees elections in the state.

The Secretary of State’s office did not immediately respond to questions for this article.

Connecticut’s new early voting law, passed by lawmakers in 2023, makes clear that voters who cast ballots during the 14-day early voting period must sign the envelope they receive with their ballot.

It is unclear how voters will be able to “correct their ballots,” as the city said.

Connecticut does not have a ballot correction process that allows voters to correct signature problems and other errors after receiving their ballots.

Sen. Heather Somers, who is running for re-election this year in the state Senate district that includes North Stonington, learned of the voting errors late Saturday.

“I’m very upset,” Somers said.

Somers said she was told that any ballot that does not have a signature on the envelope cannot be counted, and she said voters are encouraged to return to the North Stonington Education Center, the city’s early voting site, to vote with a brand new ballot. .

With Election Day just days away, Somers said she is very concerned that some of the affected voters may not be able to return to the polls to vote again.

“To me, this is a huge problem because people came out in good faith to cast these votes,” said Somers, the Republican candidate for the 18th Senate District.

Her concern is that the people who cast those ballots won’t be available on Nov. 3, the last day of early voting, or on Election Day itself.

“Some people may be out of town. Some people may have surgery,” Somers said. “They voted early for a reason.”

The error is the second that could potentially disenfranchise voters in North Stonington’s 43rd District and parts of Stonington and Ledyard.

“It’s disappointing,” said Rep. Greg Howard, a Stonington Republican who is seeking re-election from the 43rd seat.

Approximately 519 ballots were previously confiscated in Stonington after officials learned some voters had received incorrect ballots on Oct. 22, the second day of early voting. Stonington covers the 41st and 43rd House Districts.

The error in North Stonington affected every one of the 1,100 ballots cast on 13 of the 14 days of early voting, he said.

“Now you’re talking about 1,600 votes. They’re both in places where I win by a wide margin,” said Howard, a police officer elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2022.

If the 1,100 early voters in North Stonington do not return to cast new ballots on Sunday, the last day of early voting, or on Election Day, those ballots will not be counted, Howard said.

Howard said the impact of the one-day incorrect vote problem is relatively limited. No one expects that most of the sequestered ballots on Oct. 22 in Stonington were incorrect.

Voters who cast their ballots that day were urged to vote again. Otherwise, the original ballots, sealed in envelopes with voters’ names, will be thrown out.

The remaining insulated ballots will be opened and counted by hand on Election Day, with officials verifying that the voter received the correct ballot.

Only two House districts are affected, and only one is contested. Rep. Aundre Bumgardner, D-Groton, is unopposed in Groton-Stonington’s 41st District. If a vote is cast for the wrong House candidate, that vote will not be counted. But votes cast for other positions will be counted.

“I don’t think anyone did anything malicious or intentional,” Howard said. “I try to be reasonable. But at some point you say, “Enough is enough.”

Ballots in question in North Stonington due to missing signatures

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