Every election, absentee ballots come into the New Haven City Clerk's office, but this time around, things looked a little odd when a large group of absentee ballots came in all at once from the same address.
“From what we understand, there's someone who lives at 60 Warren Street that has actually gone around and collected the ballots themselves from people,” said New Haven Deputy City Clerk Sally Brown.
That is illegal.
“The law says that only a family member, caretaker, police officer, someone in that category can actually handle a person's ballot,” Brown said.
There have been complaints filed with the city clerk's office and allegations of tampering with the absentee ballots.
NBC Connecticut obtained a list of the 181 ballots mailed out to Ward 8 in New Haven.
Of the 88 that have been sent back, many came in on Oct. 16 from 60 Warren Street.
The residents there said they didn't know they shouldn't have given their ballots to someone else to mail.
“When we got the absentee ballots I filled it out, and she said, ‘Give them to me,’ so I did. I didn't know!” said Genia Pugh.
“We've been doing that for years and years. Every time somebody comes to vote, we've been giving her our ballots,” said Edna DuBose.
It will now be up to the State Election Enforcement Commission to investigate what happened and how the absentee ballots are handled. If it finds any wrongdoing, charges could be filed against the resident who collected the ballots.
“In this case, I would suggest that anybody who feels, not only in Ward 8, but throughout the city, who feels that their ballot has been tampered with, can come down and request to us before Tuesday, that we void their ballot,” Brown said.
