Bridgeport Residents Speak Out About Election Problems

Bridgeport residents had a chance to speak at a public hearing Tuesday night about problems at the polls on Election Day.  They told city officials what they thought went wrong, and how to improve the process.  

A bi-partisan panel listened to residents describe a disorganized scene at the Bridgeport polls this year.  The city ran out of ballots on November 2nd.  A Superior Court judge granted a request to keep polling places open an extra two hours.  

Resident Jean Handley  "I enter the room. The workers are yelling at each other. They’re having a very heated..I don’t know what is the problem. So I walked in and I’m like, “I’m really uncomfortable. This is not going well”.  I go pick up a ballot. The ballot isn’t a real ballot. "

Resident Jeraldine Mebane also voted on a photocopied ballot. "I’ve voted for many many years and this is the first year as a Bridgeport resident born in this city that I have ever felt uncomfortable about the process"    When the voting machine wouldn’t scan the ballot, she left it in an auxiliary slot and drove to the registrar’s office. " And standing there, there was a couple of people, I don’t know who their names were. But I told them about my experience. And the lady looked at my sticker on my little jacket said, “What? I can see you voted”.  So I looked at her and I said, “Well, I just have one question for you. Is my vote going to be counted or is it going to be played with?” 

Residents called for better training of poll workers and better oversight from Secretary of the State’s office. They said they were embarrassed by the election day confusion and called it  “another black eye”  for Bridgeport .  

City Councilman Bob Walsh.  "People were coming up to me and said I’ve waited in line for an hour and a half to find out I was in the wrong line. I mean a couple of people when they came out from voting, when the ballots finally got there, I hugged them. I told them I wouldn’t wait in line for an hour and a half even to vote for myself."

Some voters were surprised to learn that city officials have decided not to participate in the Secretary of State’s ballot audit.  In a written statement city attorneys say the city can find no legal authority which either requires or even allows the State or the City to conduct such a recount.  

For WNPR, I'm Diane Orson.