In this first segment of a 4-part interview, municipal lawyers Michael Collins and Richard Roberts discuss their experience with the election process in Connecticut and what types of disputes have come up in Connecticut’s past elections. The full text of their responses is below.
What is your experience with the election process in Connecticut?
Mike: I’ll go first. My experience with the election process goes back to the days where we used to have the voting machines where you pulled down the levers. We’ve been involved in controversies that go right down to whether those machines worked properly to the process by which absentee ballots were both applied for and tabulated, and how those things impacted situations where you ended up having a recount in very close elections.
It’s those close elections that a lot times, these absentee ballots really become very significant.
Rich: My experience is similar. I’ve also advised municipal clients and candidates over the years on requirements under the election laws. For example, the law changed a few years back regarding what the minor parties had to put on their endorsement forms in order to be on the ballot for municipal elections, so we handled a number of lawsuits regarding that the first year that law had changed.
Other than that, I’ve been involved in some situations involving petitions that may have been rejected or improperly filled out by candidates. Those have ended up in court, and I’ve overseen a couple of recounts that were heated and contentious.
Are there certain types of disputes that have been more common in Connecticut’s past elections?
Rich: I think the disputes that probably have come up most frequently involved access to the ballot in the first place, whether it’s through petitions or the endorsement process. After that, I think probably the second most common one is litigation regarding absentee balloting. As an example, there were a series of cases coming out of Bridgeport and some of the other larger cities as far as who is eligible to circulate the ballots, what constituted having the ballots mailed, what types of supervised absentee balloting was appropriate at nursing homes and other facilities. And I think the other thing that has come up in the past few years is the potential that election day registration is being misused by folks who are either not bona fide residents or who may allegedly have voted elsewhere. I think those are the most common ones in terms of complaints raised by third parties. The Secretary of State’s Office has also taken the initiative in raising some complaints regarding the accessible voting system for handicapped or disabled voters and making sure that those were all available, both at the regular polling places and at the election day registration sites.
Mike: As Rich pointed out, there have been a lot of disputes over both applying for the ballots, having them issued, having them tabulated. A lot of that is driven by the fact that there are specific requirements for all of those functions. And the fact that those requirements are in place and are the subject of litigation on many occasions, I think should help to alleviate some of the concern that the absentee ballot system can be abused, because there are checks at every stage of the process by which the system is designed to avoid abuse.