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11/30/2020 11:00 PMAfter Election Day in Clinton, the registrars of voters filed three complaints with the State Election Enforcement Commission (SEEC) for irregular use of absentee ballots. The state will now determine whether or not to investigate the complaints as attempted voter fraud.
Against the backdrop of the Presidential election in which some have alleged widespread voter fraud despite an absence of any evidence, the Clinton ballots give a clear demonstration of the checks and balances in Connecticut’s voting system.
Following the election, Clinton officials logged three complaints regarding absentee votes with the SEEC, the body that has power to investigate election complaints. The votes in question represent 0.04 percent of the 7,842 total votes cast in Clinton in the election.
Democratic Registrar of Voters June Hansen told the Harbor News that it wasn’t clear yet if the votes were done purposely to vote fraudulently or if they were done mistakenly.
Hansen said that the computer system used to log people’s votes caught two instances of voters having returned absentee ballots in another town as well as in Clinton after two voters registered to vote in another town besides Clinton. One absentee ballot was caught from an overseas ballot submitted to the Town Hall by mail as well as one dropped off at Town Hall by allegedly the same voter.
Hansen said there was not more information she could publicly provide.
“I’m just very happy the computer system worked as efficiently as it did,” Hansen said.
Shannon Clark Kief, an SEEC staffer, explained the next steps. Kief said she could not confirm or deny if any complaints were received from Clinton, but generally speaking said that complaints are given a docket number and reviewed by the SEEC at its regular meetings. The next SEEC meeting won’t occur until Dec. 2, after press time for this article; no agenda for the meeting is available yet.
At the meetings, the SEEC will determine if the complaint is in regard to something that falls in the commission’s purview, and if so, will vote on whether or not to investigate. An enforcement investigator and attorney would then conduct an investigation into the matter and present findings to the commission in executive session, where the commission would again have to vote on how to proceed.
Kief said that most investigation end in consent orders “which are basically settlements.” However, a $2,000 or more serious penalties can also be applied depending on the severity of the violation. Kief said that docketed matters have one year to be resolved.