Governor

Republicans Protest Group Voter Registrations

The Republican candidate for governor raised concerns Tuesday night about what he called a "mass swearing in" of new voters in New Haven and at the University of Connecticut.

In a series of tweets, Bob Stefanowski's campaign claimed people were being allowed to vote even though their Election Day registrations had not been processed. The campaign said such ballots "should be kept separate and counted as provisional," claiming what's allegedly happening is illegal.

Connecticut GOP party chairman JR Romano said they were hearing some local registrars held mass swearing-ins to register voters last minute. Romano said this is against the law.

The Secretary of the State's office said some new, first-time voters in New Haven were allowed to vote after swearing as a group they've never been registered to vote before in Connecticut. Hundreds of people waited in long lines in New Haven for same-day voter registration.

Spokesman Gabe Rosenberg said there was a long line Tuesday at the city's registrar's office, where only two people were working. He said the city's election staff asked state officials for guidance.

While the new voters' ballots will count, he said they were separated "out of an abundance of caution."

Rosenberg added that he was confident everything in New Haven was legal.

There was a similar situation in Mansfield. The Mansfield Registrar of Voters also segregated ballots. On Wednesday morning they will call on all of them to ensure none of those voters cast ballots elsewhere.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said Tuesday night a judge decided that the ballots in New Haven would be set aside and counted in the event of a close election, essentially treating them as provisional ballots.

Connecticut law requires people to be registered and in the system before the polls closed at 8 p.m.

Romano said the party was prepared to go to court over the counting of those ballots and a hearing was tentatively scheduled for Friday morning.

After conceding, Stefanowski said that is off the table at this point.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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