Hundreds of independent voters who sought to cast a ballot in the presidential primary Tuesday were turned away from the polls.
Though nobody kept a firm count, officials at three precincts – Stafford and Greene-Hills schools and the American Legion hall – collectively estimated they’d had to send away more than 200 voters.
If the city’s seven other voting districts had the same experience, there may have been more than 500 unaffiliated voters in Bristol who showed up to vote but didn’t get the chance.
At Greene-Hills, one fellow who couldn’t vote “got very upset,” according to Terry Parker, who helps run the polling place there.At the Legion hall on Hooker Court, officials estimated they had to say no to at least 125 independents who wanted to vote, nearly all of them expressing interest in casting a ballot in the Democratic primary.
A half dozen or more were angry enough to head for City Hall to doublecheck their registration cards.
Some thought they were registered as Democrats when they were actually independents. Others didn’t realize that Connecticut doesn’t allow unaffiliated voters to participate in party primaries, officials said.
Both Democratic Registrar Bob Badal and Jean Lombardo, the Democratic registrar in Plainville, said many unaffiliated voters are trying to vote in the Democratic primary.
But the law required anyone wishing to switch parties to make the change by noon Monday. It was too late Tuesday.
Lombardo said a number of Republicans were also saying they’d like to vote in the Democratic primary.
But they have to stick with the GOP, she said, at least until the November general election when everyone can vote for anyone they like.
City election officials said they had to make photocopies of some voters registration cards before they could convince them the computers hadn’t botched the registration information.
Some people at least were ready for the primary since hundreds in Bristol had switched their party status since November’s election.
Statewide, since the first of November, Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz said Tuesday that 16,500 unaffiliated voters changed their registration to Democrat and 6,300 unaffiliated voters made the switch to the Republican side.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
5 comments:
i was one of those turned away yesterday. i moved to bristol ten years ago i have been straight republican ever since i could vote. registered at town hall when i moved here as a republican. they did'nt have my name on any list. the lady at one table checking on it for me says our you sure you're not an indepenent. my answer was yes then she called the town hall "hot line" and told then my name and said yes she is a registered democrat WRONG! someone screwed up somewhere. i was insulted that i was stopped from voting. but it all turned out good because my choice was macain and he won easily.
So you haven't voted in ten years?
Another screw up by the Republican Registrar. She messed up my wifes registration as well (in the past). She is too old. She needs to go. But the local GOP keeps kissing her royal rear end. But wait they have Queen Krawieki to take over the throne (because another queen is unavailabe). What a country!
and you don't know what your registered as?
Unless one takes part in a primary, (and local republicans rarely have one), one would not have reason to know that they were miscategorized.
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