Hundreds of Primary Absentee Ballots Discounted In Enfield

ENFIELD, CT — More than 200 absentee ballots from Enfield voters sent by mail for the August primaries were not counted, due to being received many days following the Aug. 11 election date.

Republican Registrar of Voters Tom Kienzler said 237 absentee ballots were received after the Aug. 11 primaries had concluded. A box containing the tardy ballots, all marked "received too late," is locked in the vault adjacent to the town clerk's office.

Sixty-five of the late returns were delivered to the town clerk's office on Aug. 25, while another 49 arrived two days later. All of them were postmarked the day they were delivered, and the postmarks were from the Enfield post office rather than the usual Hartford, Kienzler said.

Kienzler and Democratic registrar Lew Fiore received no definitive explanation from postal officials, and reported the incident to the office of the Secretary of the State.

Based on historical numbers from past presidential elections, in which about five times the number of ballots are cast compared to primaries, Kienzler said he fears an even bigger problem come the November election.

"If we have the same problem in November, we could be talking over a thousand ballots," he said.

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