Trumbull Town Council Chairman Denies Voting District Petition

TRUMBULL, CT — Town Council Chairman Carl Massaro Jr. said the Town Council won't hear a petition to change the voting districts from four back to seven.

Massaro said the provisions within the Trumbull Town Charter under which the petition was filed were not met.

"Although the Petition signatures were certified by the Town Clerk, the petition was not formally sent to me as required by Chapter VII, Section 6," he said in a statement.

He also said that town attorneys have said that the power to reapportion voting districts is reserved exclusively to the Town Council by state statute.

"Since the authority to reapportion voting districts cannot be delegated, there is no basis to even consider the Petition," he said.

Massaro added that he attended a religious retreat in Montana over the past two weeks and his ability to send and receive communications was limited. The Town Clerk wasn't able to confirm the sufficiency of signatures by the time he left and weren't completed in time to satisfy legal notice requirements for the Town Council's Aug 7 meeting or its related L&A meeting on July 31, he said.

Five years ago the Town Council changed the number of voting districts from seven to four.

"There have been long lines at the polls, insufficient parking and reduced voter participation in every election since 2012," said Julia McNamee, one of the leaders of the group that organized the petition.

The group gathered more than 2,500 signatures from registered Trumbull voters for the petition.

Read the full statement and attorney's opinion below.