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Election Day Scandal?
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| The Republican Town Committee is handing out filled-in sample ballots at polling stations and causing a stir. |
Written by Christian Camerota
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Wilton Patch
© Copyright 2009 by Patch.com. All Rights Reserved.
Published On November 3, 2009
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The Republican Town Committee is making sure you know exactly how to complete and what your ballot should look like when you vote today...by handing you a sample that's already filled in.
The move is causing quite a stir at Wilton's three polling stations, at least among those running the voting and those not in support of the Republican candidates. Both polling volunteers and Democratic supporters were miffed at the practice.
"I can assure you 100 percent that a complaint will be filed with voting officials," said Deb McFadden of the Democratic Town Committee, who was handing out her own set of fliers at Middlebrook School. "We have done our best to play by the rules and the other side is not doing that."
RTC Chairman Al Alper, meanwhile, said they were merely trying to explain to voters how to go about completing the ballot properly, pointing out that it was two-sided, and were making sure not to use any campaign rhetoric when they handed them out
"I am saddened that [the DTC] would go out of their way to stifle our attempt to educate the voter on how the ballot is constructed," Alper said. "Because we don't put any campaign material on there and are only using the ballot the way it is constructed and following directions, it's not campaign literature. It's town-supplied documents. If [the DTC] is really concerned about it, they should look at the ads they've put up on [local media outlets]. Those are required to have paid-for attestation and they certainly do not."
Alper also said that some community members were so concerned, they called the Wilton Police Department and asked them to halt the RTC's sample ballot distribution. The Wilton PD reportedly said they could not get involved, so long as the distributions were abiding by state law and taking place at least 75 feet from the polling entrance (which they were and are) and being conducted peacefully.
At the Middlebrook School polling entrance, a large recycling bin was filling up quickly with the discarded sample ballots. Amy Harris, a volunteer, said she consistently had to ask voters to throw them away on their way into the polls and said it was troubling both for the workers and residents.
"I think it's an insult thinking that people need to be told how to vote," Harris said.
Perhaps the most important concern is that some voters were reportedly bringing the sample ballots into the polling stations and trying to formally submit them, frustrating and confusing both residents and staff. Though the handouts specifically say "SAMPLE" on them, they are nearly exact reproductions of real ballots.
Board of Finance Chairman and Republican candidate Warren Serenbetz said, as a member of the RTC, he was aware of the effort but didn't know if the practice violated any state election rules.
"I wasn't involved with it," Serenbetz said. "Is it comfortable? No. It's never comfortable when you have the other side telling you you're doing something wrong. But there is very little during [a political race] that is comfortable."
Even the Registrar of Voters office at town hall was abuzz with the news. Wilton resident Amy Harris, who was working at Driscoll but went to Middlebrook to vote, said she was appalled at the move and at RTC Chairman Al Alper's brazenness in promoting it.
"He's gone off the rails," she said. "As a machine tender at Driscoll, it was not fun having voters approach the machine with a fake ballot in one hand and the genuine article in the other. By the time we figured out what was going on, we were telling voters to not bring them in the building."
Alper, however, levelheadedly explained the practice and said that during a meeting this morning, the RTC specifically reviewed their election day plans with their volunteers.
"Before [the DTC] make accusations about us, I think they should go back and better understand the law," Alper said. "We went out of our way to make sure that we are in compliance with the law."
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