Press Releases
01/08/2024
Secretary Thomas Releases January 8, 2024, Bridgeport Mayoral Primary Update
(Hartford, CT) – In an effort to keep the public informed, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas today released a brief update on the new Bridgeport mayoral primary, which will take place on January 23, 2024.
“Based on feedback from our Election Monitor in November and Bridgeport’s Town Clerk staff, our office felt it was very important to change the prior model to ensure a daily presence in the Town Clerk’s office and include direct outreach to the community,” said Secretary Thomas. “Our monitors cannot do it all, and we encourage anyone who can do so to vote in person on January 23rd. If someone voted by absentee ballot but is unsure if they should have done so, they may withdraw their absentee ballot by going in-person to the Town Clerk’s office before 10 a.m. on Election Day, and they may then vote at their assigned polling place.”
The daily presence combined with the invaluable elections experience of interim Bridgeport election monitors Tim De Carlo and Peggy Reeves have already yielded positive changes for residents in the city, including the addition of an additional supervised absentee balloting location, which provides support for voters who live in places like senior living facilities and congregate care settings, where 20 or more voters reside. Supervised absentee balloting is absentee voting that is directly overseen, in-person, by a town’s registrars of voters or their designees.
“Our ability to be in the Town Clerk’s office every day has helped us identify where processes can be fine-tuned to get ahead of potential issues,” said Reeves. “We have engaged with elections officials, campaign staff, community organizations, and the public to help educate them about absentee balloting and to correct known problems.”
The election monitors have also provided training to the Bridgeport Registrars of Voters office as well as the new Town Clerk and his office staff. The Town Clerk and staff were provided with deeper training on electoral and absentee ballot processes, including permanent absentee ballot status, the duties and responsibilities of police officers as designees, who can and cannot accompany the voter into the polling place, and curbside voting.
Secretary Thomas continues to work with the interim election monitors on identifying potential process improvements to further enhance the absentee ballot process, such as spot-checking absentee ballot applicants to confirm their request for a ballot.
Questions about the election process may be directed to the Town Clerk’s office at 203-576-7081. Members of the public who suspect any election malfeasance should report it directly to the Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) by calling 860-256-2940 or completing and delivering a complaint form linked here.
For information about the Bridgeport’s new Democratic mayoral primary, please see the full election calendar here: https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SOTS/ElectionServices/Calendars/2024-Election/BPTspecialelectioncalendar_Dec-2023.pdf.
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