With Hartford’s record for Election Day shenanigans, we will be watching what unfolds today at the polls.
Want to share your experience? Leave a comment below.
Check back here for updates throughout the day.
UPDATES
- 0700: Voters are reporting no voter books at the Hartford Seminary (#4)
- 0700: Voters say they have been turned away from United Methodist (#5)
- 0700: Batchelder School (#15) polling spot has no voter books. Voter turned away. Poll workers not sure how to handle situation; did not have voter sign affidavit. She returned later in day to vote.
- 0720: Tabulation machine not working at Dutch Point (#21) polling place.
- 0730: Missing voting books apparently citywide, being delivered now…90 minutes after polls were officially supposed to open.
- 0800: Woman handing out doughnuts by the entrance of Burns Elementary (#12) saying that Malloy thanks people for their votes.
- 2:30 p.m.: Mayor Segarra says “What happened this morning is inexcusable. While today is about providing everyone the opportunity to cast his or her vote, in the coming days we will be reviewing exactly what happened. Those who are responsible will be held accountable. In the meantime, I support Governor Malloy’s actions in bringing forth a lawsuit to keep our polls open for an additional hour.” When we asked his press contact what Segarra had to say about past issues with the Hartford Registrars of Voters, we received an automated Out of Office reply.
- 3:30 p.m.: There’s testifying happening right now to determine if the polls will remain open an extra hour in Hartford to compensate for 10+ polling places not having voter lists on hand and some not having volunteers offering to have voters sign affidavits so that they could proceed with voting.
- 5:00 p.m.: Still no comment from Mayor Segarra about why he did not declare the Hartford Registrars of Voters’ past actions to be “inexcusable.”
- 5:30 p.m.: Batchelder and United Methodist polling places ordered to remain open until 8:30 p.m. because election officials failed.
- 5:35 p.m.: Judge Carl Schuman asks Secretary of State to investigate fully why these materials were not available on time, noting that “people fought and died” for the “right to vote.” Makes gentle request of media to not report poll results pertaining to these locations until after 8:30 p.m.
- 7:04 p.m.: Complaint to be filed with the SEEC regarding the Hartford Registrar of Voters’ alleged misconduct:
Anne Goshdigian
Here’s another one: people have told me they’ve gone to the Hartford city website to find out where their polling places are, and have had no luck. And speaking of polling places…my friend lives on Whitman Court (a small cross street between Capitol Avenue and Washington Street), and her polling place is at Bulkeley High School on Wethersfield Avenue–two blocks from my home on the same street, and a mile bus ride away from hers. So where do I vote? Way down near Good Shepherd Church, which means I have to get in the car and drive there. Who thinks these things up?
Kerri Provost
There are multiple resources that can help your friend know where to vote, including just typing “where is my polling place” into Google. Real Hartford had this info earlier this week:
http://www.realhartford.org/2014/11/03/real-hartford-endorses/
http://yourfuckingpollingplace.com/
http://votersregistrar.hartford.gov/Shared%20Documents/streetpolling.pdf
http://votersregistrar.hartford.gov/Shared%20Documents/polling.pdf
Richard
That is crazy Anne. There is a polling place at HPL. But when we lived near South Street there was the Fire House across the street but we had to go all the way over to Maple and Douglass to vote. Many times in the 15 years we lived there we just didn’t feel like going that far away to vote for folks we didn’t give one hoot about so we didn’t vote.
Richard
My Short Time Voting today.
Not that this matters but when I went out for a walk there were John Fonfara signs up at the polling place on Laurel Street and he doesn’t even represent our district. It took the checker what seemed like 5 mins. to find my name as it did with others in the line (can’t they train these folks on the use of the voter books) and I am not expecting that they will count my write in candidate for governor this year. (GO JANE DOE FOR GOVERNOR) I suppose I should have brought my own pen as the one I had to use was almost out of ink. At least they remembered to bring the voting stations, ballots and poll workers.
I won’t even begin to get into the display of white privilege and “I am someone”, by a election worker toward the black woman security guard who patrols the parking lot. He was demanding to park where he was not suppose to park (any where in the lot). What a display of total jerk by one of the guardians of the polling place, one who helps makes this demockracy work.
I had so much fun I think I will go back and vote some more. If anyone wants I can make you up an ID so you can have fun a few more times. You know the old slogan, the more you vote the better they feel( we don’t want to distress the ruling class too, too much) so be sure to vote after every meal.
Coming right down to it all its really a joke and a tool of the ruling class to keep us from real change.
Kerri Provost
I thought the expression was “vote early and often”?
Do you know if it is legal to fill out forms with a pen or marker that one supplies for him or herself? The fatty markers are hard to use for writing in names.
Richard
So i make up my own expressions might as well as its all made up anyway. I think I got the slogans mixed up with eat your beans at every meal, guess because it smells the same. I am not sure about the pens, that was one of our complaints last time we went to SEEC. At United Way polling place there were fine point sharpies which also present a problem with any long name. You gotta love it.
Matt O'Connor
Heard and saw multiple reports online this morning of voters being turned away from our Dist. 5 polling place – the United Methodist Church – but by the time we arrived at just before 8:30AM, operations were running smoothly and we were in and out in five minutes. At that time, I was voter # 125.
Several hours later drove retired union members to their Dist. 8 polling place – Annie Fisher STEM – and saw similarly smooth operations. The last retiree to turn in her ballot at 11:20AM was voter # 436.
Hoping there are many other uneventful and drama-free stories of voting happening across the city at this hour.
Kerri Provost
Good to hear things are going more smoothly. I saw someone somewhere say something along the lines of “well, people have plenty of time to vote” if they missed the early opportunity. That may technically be true — whether or not voting hours get extended — but it ignores the complexity of some residents’ lives. If someone has to work and take classes pretty much all day, 6-7 a.m. could be the only time that actually fits into the schedule.
Richard
From AOL.
Quote for the day. Excuses and blaming is the name of the game Typically HROV.
“Throughout the city, the right thing that should have taken place this morning was allow the voter to vote, write their names down and issue a ballot,” Olga Vázquez, the Democratic Registrar of Voters told WVIT.
“We don’t stop the process, I apologize if people, moderators, election officials, did not recall that in the training from the training put that into practice this morning.”
Isn’t it high time to seriously get rid of this woman and the other 2 folks in the HROV office?
Cosmo Catalano
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the voters of Hartford did, through charter reform last fall.
The Registrars are elected officials, so there isn’t a whole lot anyone in City Hall can do about it. The voters are the only people who can “get rid of” them—and even then, only by replacing them with someone else.
I believe voters approved changes to the charter that should have moved the RoV from two elected officials (three, in the case that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are not the top two vote getters) to a single official appointed by the council and Mayor—but I skipped town in July, so I’m not up-to-date on that.
Pablo
sigh….. the accents on the word “tu” are incorrect. In that context, “tu” should not be accented. You’d think the Hispanic Health Council would have someone who could write proper Spanish.
Kerri Provost
You’d think.