Darien Officially Chooses Location For Early Voting

DARIEN, CT — Last week, the Darien Representative Town Meeting voted to select Town Hall as its location for early voting.

Gov. Ned Lamont last June signed legislation establishing early voting in Connecticut for elections and primaries. The legislation went into effect Jan. 1.

RTM Town Government Structure and Administration Committee Chair Frank Kemp went before the town's legislative body last week and explained that the legislation allows municipalities with populations over 20,000 to designate additional early voting sites.

"With Darien's population just over this threshold, the Registrars of Voters have recommended that Town Hall, and only Town Hall, be the site of early voting," Kemp said, according to the broadcast on Darien TV79.

The early voting window will be four days before the presidential preference primary, which is slated for April 2; seven days for most other primaries; and 14 days for general elections, Kemp noted. The general election this year is set for Nov. 5.

For all elections, the early voting location must be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Kemp added, with the exceptions of Tuesday and Thursday the week before the election when hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

"The early voting site must be supervised by the registrar of voters, appointed moderators and support personnel to ensure the custody of the pre-printed ballots, and the marked ballots, and that they're enclosed in security envelopes," Kemp said.

Darien will receive a grant of $10,500 from the state to offset the costs of early voting.

Darien Republican Registrar of Voters Cara Gately told Patch in late December that the town plans on purchasing laptops, fireproof cabinets that can be locked and secured, and other equipment for early voting days.

"We think custody, control and safety of the ballots... is crucial," she said.

Dring the RTM meeting last week, Bill Clarkson of District 1 asked if there are any changes to the requirements for showing identification to participate in early voting.

Gately said the legislation does not change or ammend any of the voter identification requirements, which vary depending on the type of election. But the legislation now allows for same-day registration during the early voting period.

"On the four, or seven or 14 days that immediately precede the election, people can register on the same day and they'll have to show the required residency and eligibility regarding citizenship and identification if they're going to register to vote that day. Then they can vote early," Gately said.

Gately told Patch she believes early voting is "really important" and she hopes Darien residents take advantage of it, especially those with busy schedules who might not be able to vote on Election Day itself.

"What early voting does is it allows people more flexibility, in a secure way, where they can register to vote, they can fill out their ballot, and they can participate in the electoral process, meet their civic duty, and get to vote where maybe Election Day just doesn't work for them," Gately said. "They don't miss out on that opportunity."

You can view the Jan. 22 RTM meeting in full here