LETTER: Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Shares Concerns About Town Clerk Errors in Election Procedures

Editor’s Note: Written and submitted entirely by the Trumbull Democratic Town Committee

The Trumbull Democratic Town Committee has expressed concern and disappointment in the wake of more election problems from the Trumbull Town Clerk’s office.

For the third time in recent years, mistakes by Trumbull Town Clerk Suzanne Burr Monaco have threatened to create confusion for Trumbull voters.

This year the problem stems from the fact that District 4 elects six Town Council members instead of the five elected in the other three districts. Voters are allowed to vote for up to six Council members in District 4 with the top six winning election.

As each party can only field five candidates, this ensures that the district has at least one Council member from each party. The error is that this year’s ballots incorrectly instruct voters in District 4 to select up to five candidates instead of six.

“While it’s troubling to see a pattern of carelessness in the Town Clerk’s election responsibilities, our greater concern is to ensure that Trumbull voters are not confused by the election process or prevented from fully exercising their right to vote,” said Cindy Katske, Secretary of the Trumbull Democratic Town Committee and current candidate for the office of Trumbull Town Clerk. “It’s also unfortunate that Trumbull taxpayers will have to shoulder the cost of correcting this mistake.”

After the 2011 election, the SEEC responded to a citizen complaint against Trumbull Town Clerk Suzanne Burr Monaco regarding the fact that required explanatory information was not properly posted nor made available at each polling place on election day.

The SEEC found that the Town Clerk did not meet the poster requirements and ordered that she not do it again. Then, in 2013, election ballots were printed with the name of a Democratic Constable candidate printed improperly. At that time, candidate David W. Kayne chose not to pursue a formal complaint.

The error will be corrected on new ballots to be printed for the upcoming election; however, absentee ballots have already been sent out by mail with this error. New absentee ballots will be sent to replace the erroneous ballots, but any absentee ballots completed and received with this error will still be accepted and counted as valid if the corrected ballot is not returned.