Opinion: First Selectwoman Must Return Control of Election Equipment

The following opinion essay was written by Fairfield Democrats:

On August 2nd, 2022, just days before the primary elections, First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick seized control of the storage facility where Fairfield’s election tabulators, memory cards, and ballots are stored. In blatant disregard of state regulations (CGR §§ 9-242a-2 and 9-242a-8), which require that this facility be “exclusively controlled” by the duly-elected town Registrars, First Selectwoman Kupchick had the existing locks to the facility removed and a new lock installed, the key to which only she and her staff possessed.

Fairfield DTC Chairman Steven Sheinberg contacted Fairfield Town Attorney James Baldwin to discuss these violations and request that a solution be found which complies with state regulations and returns custody of the equipment to the Registrars. One suggested solution was the installation of a dual lock system to which each Registrar is given a separate key. However, these discussions did not result in any change to the Administration’s improper control over the election equipment.

On August 8th, Chairman Sheinberg lodged a formal complaint with the Connecticut Secretary of the State regarding these violations, requesting that custodial control of the election equipment be returned to Fairfield's Registrars. The complaint also noted that unauthorized workers had accessed the storage facility several times without supervision by the Registrars’ Office, and that the First Selectwoman’s seizure of our town’s election equipment had undermined the security and integrity of said equipment.

In response to Chairman Sheinberg’s complaint, the Office of the Secretary of the State issued a directive on September 6th to the Town of Fairfield that it return possession of the storage facility keys to the elected Registrars. The directive notes that First Selectwoman Kupchick’s custodial policy did not comply with state regulations and that the solution DTC Chairman Sheinberg suggested a month prior—to furnish the Registrars with two keys—was to be implemented by the town “as soon as possible and prior to October 1, 2022.”

Thankfully, control over Fairfield’s election equipment will now be returned to our town’s duly-elected Registrars. First Selectwoman Kupchick had no legal authority to take control of the equipment nor to dictate policies that usurped the elected Registrars’ authority. In today’s day and age, when election officials are under attack and public trust in a free & fair election process is being undermined, it is disturbing that Fairfield’s First Selectwoman would take such steps and blatantly disregard Connecticut’s elections regulations. These reckless actions threatened the safety and integrity of Fairfield’s election infrastructure.

Abuse of executive power, particularly related to control of elections, is not just a national phenomenon. We must all remain vigilant — even locally here in Fairfield, Connecticut.