Connecticut General Statutes 9-150b – Duties of moderators and municipal clerks. Declaration of count
(a) Moderator to record result of each count. The moderator shall record the result of each count of absentee ballots at any election, primary or referendum, separately by time of count, on (1) a separate moderator’s return for each voting district, and (2) a separate record of the number of absentee votes cast for each candidate for each voting district.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 9-150b
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Ballot: means paper or other material containing the names of the candidates or a statement of a proposed constitutional amendment or other question or proposition to be voted on. See Connecticut General Statutes 9-1
- Election: means any electors' meeting at which the electors choose public officials by use of voting tabulators or by paper ballots as provided in §. See Connecticut General Statutes 9-1
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Municipal clerk: means the clerk of a municipality. See Connecticut General Statutes 9-1
- Referendum: means (1) a question or proposal which is submitted to a vote of the electors or voters of a municipality at any regular or special state or municipal election, as defined in this section, (2) a question or proposal which is submitted to a vote of the electors or voters, as the case may be, of a municipality at a meeting of such electors or voters, which meeting is not an election, as defined in subsection (d) of this section, and is not a town meeting, or (3) a question or proposal which is submitted to a vote of the electors or voters, as the case may be, of a municipality at a meeting of such electors or voters pursuant to §. See Connecticut General Statutes 9-1
- State election: means the election held in the state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in the even-numbered years in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of Connecticut. See Connecticut General Statutes 9-1
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Voting district: means any municipality, or any political subdivision thereof, having not more than one polling place in a regular election. See Connecticut General Statutes 9-1
(b) Counting at central location. Central counting moderator’s return. Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, when all counting is complete, the moderator shall publicly declare the result of such count. The moderator shall then deliver to the head moderator the central counting moderator’s returns, together with all other information required by law or by the Secretary of the State’s instructions. The head moderator shall add the results from the voting tabulators, recorded on the moderator’s return for each polling place, to the absentee count recorded on the central counting moderator’s return for the corresponding voting district, in the manner prescribed by the Secretary of the State. The returns so completed shall show separately the tabulator vote and the absentee vote and the totals thereof.
(c) Counting in the respective polling places. Declaration of result. If the absentee ballots were counted in the respective polling places, pursuant to subsection (b) of § 9-147a, when all counting is complete the moderator shall publicly declare the result of such count as provided in § 9-309 and add such count to the results from the voting tabulators recorded on the moderator’s return. Such return shall show separately the tabulator vote and the absentee vote and the totals thereof.
(d) Forms. The Secretary of the State may prescribe the forms and instructions for the tabulation, counting and return of the absentee ballot vote.
(e) Presentation of depository envelopes. The sealed depository envelopes required by subsections (f) and (m) of § 9-150a shall be returned by the moderator to the municipal clerk as soon as practicable on or before the day following the election, primary or referendum.
(f) Municipal clerk to preserve ballots, envelopes and related materials. The municipal clerk shall preserve for sixty days after the election, primary or referendum the depository envelopes containing opened envelopes and rejected ballots required by subsection (f) of § 9-150a, and shall so preserve for one hundred eighty days the depository envelopes containing counted ballots and related materials required by subsection (m) of § 9-150a.
(g) Limits on opening depository envelopes. Exception for certain elections, primaries and referenda held in 2020 and 2021. (1) No such depository envelope shall be opened except by order of a court of competent jurisdiction, by the State Elections Enforcement Commission pursuant to a subpoena issued under subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of § 9-7b or within five business days after an election, primary or referendum for the purpose of a recanvass conducted pursuant to law. After such a recanvass the depository envelopes and their contents shall be returned to the municipal clerk and preserved for the stated period.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, for the state election in 2020, and any election, primary or referendum held on or after June 23, 2021, but prior to November 3, 2021, no such depository envelope shall be opened for the purpose of a recanvass conducted pursuant to law except within seven business days after such election, primary or referendum as provided in § 9-311.
(h) Municipal clerk to preserve applications, void and unused ballots, records. For sixty days after the election, primary or referendum the following shall be preserved by the municipal clerk as a public record open to public inspection: (1) All executed absentee ballot application forms and direction by registrar forms, as required by subdivision (i) of § 9-140; (2) the list and index of applicants for presidential or overseas ballots as required by § 9-158h; (3) the numerical list of absentee voting sets issued as required by subsection (e) of § 9-140; (4) the list of the names of persons whose absentee ballots are received by the municipal clerk, as required by subsection (a) of § 9-140c; (5) all unused absentee ballots; and (6) all envelopes containing ballots received by the municipal clerk after the close of the polls, which shall remain unopened.
(i) Municipal clerk to preserve affidavits. For one hundred eighty days after the election, primary or referendum the following shall be preserved by the municipal clerk as a public record open to public inspection: (1) The affidavit regarding the municipal clerk’s endorsement of inner envelopes, as required by subsection (a) of § 9-140c; and (2) the affidavit regarding delivery and receipt of ballots, as required by subsection (j) of said section.
(j) Destruction of ballots, envelopes and related materials. At the expiration of the applicable retention period, if no contest is pending and no subpoena has been issued by the State Elections Enforcement Commission pursuant to subsection (1) of § 9-7b, the municipal clerk shall destroy the materials preserved under this section.