South Windsor GOP files complaint about Democrats’ absentee ballot distribution

The State Elections Enforcement Commission is investigating a complaint from the South Windsor GOP that contends town Democrats illegally distributed hundreds of absentee ballot applications.

The complaint, which centers on the legality of preprinted signatures on absentee ballot applications that are mailed to potential voters, followed confusion over the rules among local political parties, registrars and election officials statewide.

The complaint by Republican Town Committee Chairwoman Kathy Daugherty and fellow party members says Democrats illegally included pre-printed, instead of “wet,” signatures for the person assisting with ballot applications for the Nov. 2 election. The SEEC “determined it was necessary to investigate this complaint,” agency spokesman Joshua Foley said Wednesday.

“The one thing everybody is going to say is this is a Trump thing,” Daugherty said. “We are not looking to overturn this election and this has zero to do with anything on the national level. It’s about the integrity of the voting process.”

Democratic Town Committee Chairman Anthony Duarte, whose signature is the focus of the complaint, said the committee “followed the law regarding the distribution of absentee ballots in the recent municipal election, with the guidance of the Office of the Secretary of the State.

“The complaint has no merit and is yet another attempt by the Republican party to undermine the integrity of our voting process,” Duarte said.

Along with Duarte, the complaint names secretary of the state elections director Theodore Bromley and political consultant Michael Farina. The complaint includes copies of absentee ballot applications with Duarte’s signature as “person providing assistance.” Daugherty and the other complainants contend that Duarte’s failure to sign each form personally was “a blatant violation of the law” that invalidates every ballot in question.

Gabe Rosenberg, general counsel for the Secretary of the State, said, “The trend of losing candidates crying fraud and attacking the integrity of election officials in order to erode voters’ trust in our elections is a worrying one for our democracy.

“The claims made against Connecticut’s Director of Elections are certainly part of that trend,” Rosenberg said. “Those claims are false, and we look forward to the state Elections Enforcement Commission’s swift investigation of these allegations.”

Reporting on the issue in October, Courant columnist Kevin Rennie wrote that Newington Town Clerk James Krupienski first sounded the alarm on the issue after noticing the printed signature of the local Democratic Party chairman on ballot applications.

At a town clerks conference in late September, Krupienski told Rennie, a representative from Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s office repeatedly stressed that absentee ballot applications must include the “wet” signature of the person assisting the voter.

Krupienski said the instruction from Democrat Merrill’s office was clear and repeated during an August PowerPoint presentation to town clerks. The applications his office were receiving, though, did not appear to meet that requirement, so Krupienski alerted the SEEC.

Bromley had advised Farina in an Aug. 9 email that a digital signature for the absentee ballot assister was permissible, Rennie wrote. But as more town clerks began to raise concerns about the applications, Bromley told Farina in an Oct. 4 message that he was seeing applications with names in a Microsoft script, as opposed to a digital facsimile of an actual signature.

Farina said of the complaint Wednesday, “We followed the law to the letter, and now Trump Republicans are attempting — just like Donald Trump did — to overturn an election by attacking election officials and undermining public trust. Their conspiracy theories, racism and fundamental lack of patriotism are a dangerous threat to American democracy.”

In an Oct. 14 letter, Bromley wrote to the SEEC to explain that a “miscommunication” had occurred over the application requirements. “This miscommunication should not affect the voters of Connecticut,” he wrote.

The fine for violating absentee ballot laws can be as much as $2,000 per incident.

Daugherty said South Windsor Republicans seek transparency and assurance that voting is secure and legal.

“They need to button up the process,” she said.

Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@courant.com