Ballot Box Battle Ends In Wallingford

WALLINGFORD, CT — The battle over the placement of Wallingford's absentee ballot drop boxes has come to an end. Public Works crews installed two absentee ballot drop boxes outside Town Hall on Monday, according to the Meriden Record-Journal.

Wallingford Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. originally had the ballot drop boxes placed inside Town Hall, which prompted complaints from some residents about their accessibility for the upcoming primary election.

Deputy Secretary of the State Scott Bates also sent Dickinson a letter instructing the town to place at least one ballot drop box outside of Town Hall.

Unlike nearby municipalities such as Cheshire, Meriden, North Haven and Southington, Wallingford planned to keep its ballot collection boxes inside Town Hall. Those municipalities each received two ballot drop boxes through the federal CARES Act as the state expands absentee ballot use for next month's primary election during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dickinson previously told the Meriden Record-Journal he planned to keep the drop boxes inside Town Hall due to security and vandalism concerns. State Sen. Len Fasano recently defended Dickinson and criticized Bates in a letter.

Fasano, the Republican Senate minority leader whose district includes Wallingford, told Bates in a letter his office has no "authority over where Wallingford places the drop box."

The Record-Journal reports crews installed one of the drop boxes near the front steps of Town Hall and the other by the carriage house – the brown brick building behind Town Hall on Prince Street.

Read more at the Meriden Record-Journal here.