Fairfield First Selectwoman Responds To Democrats' Election Charges

FAIRFIELD, CT — Emphasizing that Fairfield Democrats have "completely mischaracterized and politicized" the situation, Republican First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick on Friday responded to the Democrats claims that she has been ordered by the state to return control of certain election equipment.

In a release posted on Patch on Thursday, local Democrats claimed that Kupchick "seized control of the storage facility where Fairfield’s election tabulators, memory cards, and ballots are stored," in violation of state statutes.

The move prompted Fairfield Democratic Town Committee Chair Steven Sheinberg to lodge a formal complaint with the state, which led to the Secretary of State's office implementing a suggestion from Town Attorney James Baldwin to install a new locking system.

"Thankfully, control over Fairfield’s election equipment will now be returned to our town’s duly-elected Registrars," Fairfield Democrats wrote. "First Selectwoman Kupchick had no legal authority to take control of the equipment nor to dictate policies that usurped the elected Registrars’ authority."

In a lengthy, written statement, Kupchick explained the circumstances of the disagreement, as she saw it.

"The recent posting by the Democratic Town Committee on Fairfield Patch is a distortion of reality that requires that I share with the public recent occurrences in the Town Registrar of Voters (ROV) office," Kupchick said. "I became quite concerned about the integrity of our elections after being informed of several actions taken by the Democratic Registrar of Voters. For details see the well-documented complaint filed with the Secretary of State’s Office by the Town, and SOTS have referred the case to the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC)."

Kupchick provided a copy of a 107-page document filed with the Secretary of State’s office that was attached to the Secretary of State’s letter. Democrats posted the letter, but not the document.

The document contains emails, complaints and other background involving Democratic Registrar of Voters Matt Waggner that Kupchick said led to the election enforcement investigation.

"It was reported on July 23 that the Democratic Registrar was, on his own, against state statute and over a weekend, going to the portables where the tabulators were stored, where he unilaterally set up 12 tabulators with only Democratic ballots in advance of the August 9th primary," Kupchick wrote. "This is in fact a violation of the very statute the DTC claims was violated by my administration.

"In May, the Democratic Registrar recommended, and the majority of the RTM voted, to approve
changing the polling locations for a large number of residents in our town, (which was not required according to SOTS and against the recommendation of Republican Registrars ). As a result, a postcard was created to send to voters to ensure they knew where to vote. The post cards had a QR code on the postcard to make it easier for residents to pull up the website to find their polling location.

"After first attempting to halt production of the postcard with the vendor, on August 1, Democratic Registrar Waggner then deleted a large number of records, files and pages on the Town’s ROV website, including the QR linked page, “Where Do I Vote?”. Waggner’s actions were in clear violation of state statute and the Town’s technology policy. It was alarming to the Town that voters wouldn’t have access to their polling location on the Town’s website."

Below is the remainder of Kupchick's statement:

"When I was informed the Democratic Registrar deleted the ROV webpage that was created to inform residents where to vote, I became very concerned about the integrity of Fairfield’s upcoming primary elections. This, coupled with the fact Mr. Waggner worked on the tabulators alone on a weekend, compelled me to take action to ensure the tabulators were secure and that this could not happen again."

Fortunately, the Town was able to restore the “Where Do I Vote” webpage before the postcards hit
resident’s mailboxes. The IT Director confirmed in the system that Matt Waggner did in fact delete these pages and files.

“I became increasingly concerned leading up to the election by the erratic and unilateral actions of the Democratic Registrar, and the multiple documented complaints coming from other staff of a hostile work environment, including Waggner’s refusal to work cooperatively with the assistant Republican Registrar. In light of these issues, we had the locks changed with a new protocol to access the tabulators.

The Town attorney consulted with the Secretary of State’s Office on this policy, and was told in no
uncertain terms that the policy was acceptable under the current unusual circumstances presented.” (see attached email from SOTS email dated 8/9)*.

The policy included that the full-time employee in the ROV office (who has been with the Town for 19 years) would hold the keys and go with any ROV visiting the room with the tabulators. At no time did this employee deny either of the ROV’s access to the tabulators. Furthermore, at no time did the administration visit or have access to the tabulators.

On August 5th, the Town Attorney participated in a phone conversation with the Fairfield DTC
Chairman and the State Central Democratic Attorney, who agreed that the policy was reasonable based on Mr. Waggner’s refusal to go with the other registrars to the portables where the tabulators are stored notwithstanding the state statute that requires registrars from each party be present. This conversation was memorialized in an email to a staff attorney at the SOTS Office, who the Town attorney had previously consulted with about the policy.

First Selectwoman Kupchick concluded, "It’s unbelievable that this situation is being completely
mischaracterized and politicized by the Fairfield Democratic Town Committee on the local Fairfield Patch. The integrity of our elections is paramount and that is why we reported and documented everything with the Secretary of State’s Office. The Town will continue to report any actions that are in violation of state policies and statutes to ensure Fairfield’s elections are secure, and welcomes the SEEC’s investigation into these matters."

*Text from the above referenced email of Aug. 9 from Aida R. Carini, Staff Attorney for the Secretary of the State's office, reads as follows:

Dear all,

Our office has received communications from various parties regarding changes to the storage area access of the tabulator machines. We write to remind you of the governing statutes and regulations and to let you know that we have referred this matter for investigation to SEEC on the basis of the respective complaints of the parties. It is our understanding that there have been multiple difficulties between the registrars in your municipality and that as a result of those difficulties the town officials established a custodial system in the office of the registrars for keeping of the key to the tabulator closet. This custodial system as we understand it, has an administrative assistant in charge of the tabulator closet key. Both registrars and deputies are to have access to this key at all times and would be accompanied by this assistant at all times in which the closest is accessed. We have advised that no registrar or deputy should be denied access to this area at any time and that only personnel authorized by law shall have access to that area. If you have any questions or seek further guidance, please contact me or Ted Bromley.