By Pat Eaton-Robb
Published August 3rd 2006 in Boston Globe
HARTFORD, Conn. --State officials agreed Wednesday to hold open Connecticut's Aug. 8 federal primary elections until Aug. 25 to ensure that absentee ballots from residents serving overseas in the military are counted.
There are up to 2,100 people qualified to vote in the primary elections under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act, according to the lawsuit.
About 700 ballots for the Democratic U.S. Senate race and fewer than 100 ballots for the Republican 1st Congressional District primary were mailed late by town clerks, according to the secretary of the state's office. Under the agreement, any military absentee ballot received before Aug. 25 will be counted.
"If the margin of victory is less than about 700 or the number mailed late, declaration of the winner will be delayed until Aug. 25 under our agreement, so that they may determine the outcome," Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.
The hotly contested U.S. Senate primary could be close. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found Democratic challenger Ned Lamont leading U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman by about 4 percentage points. Republicans can go to the polls in Connecticut's 1st Congressional District, where Miriam Masullo and Scott MacLean are competing to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. John Larson.
The agreement does not affect the gubernatorial primary between Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy and New Haven Mayor John DeStefano because that is not a federal race, said Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz. She said she does not have the authority to hold an election open without a court order.
Normally, towns would have until 6 p.m. the day after the election to submit all ballots, according to the secretary of the state's office.
The state would then certify the results by the Thursday or Friday following the election.
Under the consent order, which was approved by a U.S District Court judge in New Haven, eligible military voters who did not receive absentee ballots will be allowed to download them from a federal Web site.
Bysiewicz said her office has made sure that all military personal now have ballots. Employees are also working with the National Guard to ensure that 900 members currently overseas will have the materials necessary to vote in the general election.
"We have 169 town clerks and we will make sure that in the November election that all the materials are sent out by local officials on time," Bysiewicz said. "I am committed to assuring that every ballot cast by overseas servicemen and women will be counted."
Connecticut U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor said that while it is unlikely that the absentee ballots will make a difference in the election's outcome, it was important to his office to make sure all the military votes are counted.
"I don't want to overdramatize this, but one of the things they are fighting for is the very freedoms we enjoy, including voting," he said. "I think it would be very unfortunate if they were deprived of that opportunity in a meaningful way."
Similar settlements were reached in 2004 in Georgia and Pennsylvania, and this year in Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina, O'Connor said.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.