We often hear election officials and politicians lamenting the lack of participation in Democracy, especially in Connecticut. We also hear that our late primary leaves us out of the process of selecting the Presidential candidates. Secretary Bysiewicz, to the appreciation of many, has led the charge to move our primary to February from March.
Not so in Greenwich, where the registrars seem to be growing weary of paying the price and baring the burdens of Democracy, aggravated by frustration in finding willing help wintering in town:
Greenwich Times: Super Tuesday poses obstacles for registrars, <read>
Republican Veronica Baron Musca and Democrat Sharon Vecchiolla said Connecticut’s decision to move its presidential primary up a month to Tuesday, Feb. 5, when 22 other states will hold similar contests, is a hardship for their office and the town.
“I don’t like this at all,” Musca said. “This doesn’t give us enough time after the (November) election. It’s just too chaotic.”
Musca said a number of logistical obstacles loom for the registrars, from recruiting enough workers to run the polls to preparing for a mandated canvass of all voters in April.
According to the registrars, they are scrambling to find replacements for elderly poll workers who are gone for the winter…
Among the other concerns raised by the town’s registrars was the cost of holding two primaries, which they said is about $90,000 total.
Following the practice of some previous years, when the primary in one party or the other didn’t take place because an incumbent was running, the registrars only budgeted enough for a single primary this year. Musca said the registrars’ office is planning to make a $45,000 interim appropriation request to the Board of Estimate and Taxation to cover the expenses of holding two primaries.
“By the time they got to Connecticut, the ones that were going to drop out, dropped out,” said
It might cost a few hundred more and another day of work if Greenwich is selected for the post-election random audit. Also we would advise careful calculations on election night to avoid another recount.
