June 5. 2024 – Stafford, CT
Stafford currently has three polling places for major elections. That’s in addition to two weeks of early voting at Town Hall mandated by the state. For several Board of Selectmen (BOS) meetings, First Selectman Bill Morrison has been exploring the possibility of consolidating voting places to save resources. This week, he also raised another issue: Both the Town Clerk and Tax Collector are elected positions in Stafford, but both are also certified positions. So what happens when a town elects someone who does not have the right qualifications?
First, let’s tackle the polling places. During general elections, the town operates three polling places and pays for people to staff each. That is in addition to providing early voting access at Town Hall, the underfunding of which has been a point of contention for many towns.
Morrison says that many people in town are confused about where to vote because sometimes people on different ends of the same street have different polling places. He stresses that he does not want to suppress votes but instead wants to make it simpler, more efficient, and more cost-effective. Theoretically, he says, this change could cut costs associated with elections by two-thirds.
The most obvious location for one centralized polling place is a school, likely the high school. Selectman Rick Hartenstein said that after talking to some people about the idea, he thought the school was also the best place to consolidate voting. The Senior Center and the library (where the whole town votes during referendums) are too small to accommodate the traffic associated with a general election. That could lead to people giving up and going home.
Stafford resident Mark Maynard was in the audience and said he works as an election moderator in Ellington. He advised against rushing into a change during an important presidential election year.
Selectman Kurt Vail said that he was not opposed to the idea but could see some West Stafford residents having concerns about going all the way to the high school to vote. He said he would like to hear what the citizens say and suggested doing a town-wide survey. He also suggested exploring the idea of reducing the number of polling places to two instead of just one. Ultimately, all the selectmen were on board with investigating the idea further.
Town Clerk and Tax Collector
Now, onto the question about what to do with the Town Clerk and Tax Collectors position. As you have likely noticed, these are elected positions in Stafford, but that’s not true in every town. In many places, these are appointed positions. Furthermore, these positions require certifications, but you do not need to already hold the proper certifications to run for the position.
Morrison says he became aware of this after coming into office and started wondering what would happen if someone without the proper certification or experience was elected to one of these positions. He wanted to add a discussion about a possible change to a future agenda.
Selectman Kurt Vail was skeptical. “When you do stuff like this, you take away the confidence of the people.”
Morrison agreed there was a lot to discuss, including what certification entails and how long it takes. He also wanted to research how other towns handle it.
Selectman Rick Hartenstein said he would like to see a discussion on the agenda, and Vail said he was open to the discussion but was “not passionate about it by any means.” He also noted that if the BOS decided to move forward with a change, he would like to see it decided at a referendum vote. In the end, the BOS decided to gather more information and have a discussion at a later date.