The League of Women Voters of New Canaan, and New Canaan Town Clerk, Claudia Weber, are teaming up this fall to make sure you get the facts about voting in the upcoming November 3 election. This third and final segment answers some frequently asked questions this year concerning last minute voting questions.
The Town Clerk, the Registrars and their staffs are already hard at work processing voter registrations, changes, AB requests, and AB sorting, all in preparation for Election Day, November 3rd – next Tuesday!
PART 3
Please Note: regular voter registration ended on October 27. At this point, the only way to register to vote is in person at Town Hall with the Registrars of Voters ON ELECTION DAY. Be aware that this option can be time-consuming.
* Voters who already have their ABs and know how they plan to vote should drop off their ABs in the Official Ballot Drop Box outside the main entrance of Town Hall (by the parking lot) as soon as possible. This will help to alleviate the load of AB processing on Election Day. They should NOT put it in any other town’s Official Ballot Drop Box! The Drop Box will be locked at 8 pm on Election Day.
* Voters may still vote in person at the polls even if they have received an Absentee Ballot as long as they have not completed and returned it to the Town Clerk. DO NOT bring the unused ballot to the polls. If you decide to vote at the polls instead, just leave your Absentee Ballot at home and simply shred it after having voted in person.
* Once an Absentee Ballot has been processed by the Town Clerk, the voter will receive an “A” next to their name on the Official Polling Place List and those voters will be turned away if they show up to the polls on Election Day. After the polls close the Official Polling Place Lists are matched to any Absentee Ballot received since that morning; if there is an Absentee Ballot for someone whose name is crossed off as having voted in person, the Absentee Ballot will be nullified and will not be counted.
* Connecticut does not do signature matching on the AB application against the inner envelope.
* Voters only need to include a copy of their official ID with their Absentee Ballot if they registered without an ID in the first place, and their first vote is a mail-in/absentee ballot. The copy of the ID should be enclosed in the outer envelope along with the inner envelope, not inside the inner envelope -which should contain only the ballot. This only applies to those new voters whose ID was not cleared when they initially registered, not for every new voter. These are people who have an * next to their name.
* Voters should check the Secretary of State’s ballot lookup tool https://portaldir.ct.gov/sots/LookUp.aspx to see if their ballot has been received before heading to the polls. Please note that there may be a significant time lag between when a ballot is accepted and when it appears via the lookup tool. Voters should be assured that if their ballot has been received and filled out correctly, it will be counted.
* There is an Elections Moderator inside each polling place if voters have any concerns regarding appropriate behavior at the polls.
*In-person voting will happen as usual at New Canaan High School (District 1) and Saxe Middle School (Districts 2 & 3). Poll hours are from 6:00am – 8:00pm and will be staffed by poll workers wearing PPE. Voters should come wearing masks and practice social distancing.
Source: Claudia Weber, Town Clerk
