Your place for answers about voting and local elections in Stratford By Registrar Of Voters James Simon (D). May 2025
Q: I heard we are getting new voting machines in Stratford for Election Day. Why are you spending all that money; what was wrong with the old ones?
A: Stratford and all Connecticut towns are receiving free replacement voting tabulators this year. The tabulator is the machine that you feed your ballot into; your vote for each candidate is electronically recorded, and then the paper ballot drops into a big black ballot box. At the end of the evening, the tabulator totals up the votes for each candidate (which then are added to any Absentee Ballots or Early Voting to produce the final results).
The traditional tabulators are over 15 years old, well past their useful life, and replacement parts are no longer available. The new tabulators will be used starting with this November’s municipal election, plus in any September 2025 party primaries that might occur. They have a larger video screen and a countdown mechanism that shows the ballot being processed. They also scan each ballot, so we have a digital record in addition to the paper trail. The machines are a tad slower than the old ones, but Registrars in other towns who have used them for special elections or referendum votes say they like them.
Q: If you are getting new machines this year, why would you also change all the software in Hartford for Connecticut registering voters this year?
A: The Secretary of State’s office is replacing the current Centralized Voter Registration System with a new product called TotalVote that is described as more secure and efficient. Thankfully, Hartford has now decided to delay the start of the new system until 2026, thereby providing more time for training election workers and avoiding competition with the rollout of the new tabulators.
Q: I always wanted to work at the polls on Election Day. Do you have to know someone at Town Hall to get a paid position?
A: The Registrars of Voters usually hire 100+ election workers to work at the 10 polling locations, plus at the Early Voting site in the Baldwin Center and at Town Hall on Election Day. The Republican and Democratic registrars each hire half the workers. We are looking for people who are energetic problem solvers, people who can work a very long day (5:30 a.m. until about 8:15 p.m.), and can check any partisanship at the door. Stratford has not had the problems of many municipalities in finding enough workers, which we take as a sign that our current recruitment system is working. The payment for entry-level workers is $290. Interested? Contact us at Registrars@townofstratford.com
We reserve 25 percent of the paid positions for high school age students in hopes of getting them interested in voting at an early age. About 90 percent of the young election workers who stay in the Stratford area the following year want to work for us again, which we also take as a good sign.
Q: Why do we have elections every single November in Connecticut?
A: State and local election dates are set by the Legislature, and we use a four-year cycle. The last presidential election was 2024, so the next such election will be 2028. The following year (2025), the ballot contains such municipal races as mayor, town council, and board of education. In the third year of the cycle (2026), the governor’s race dominates the ballot; there often is also a U.S. Senate race, and always U.S. House and state legislative contests. The fourth year in the cycle, (2027) will have such municipal offices as Town Council, Board of Education, and land use boards on the ballot.
General elections are always held the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Secretary of State’s office in Hartford publishes a useful Election Calendar each year — bit.ly/3So3PzN— which details all of the relevant dates.
Q: I just moved here. What is the easiest way to get contact information on elected officials?
A: The town web page can be useful: Town of Stratford | Home. The local League of Women Voters also publishes a Stratford pamphlet which concise and useful. You can find it online here: https://app.box.com/s/jchs6614vuvoqouhond0bpr0xxcswl5d
MORE QUESTIONS? SEND THEM TO STRATFORD REGISTRAR JAMES SIMON;
jsimon@townofstratford.com. This is not an official publication of the Town of Stratford. (Vol. 4, No. 5; May 2024)
James Simon
Registrar of Voters (D)
Town of Stratford, 2725 Main St. Stratford CT 06615
203 385 4049; jsimon@townofstratford.com
- To register to vote; change your name, address and/or party affiliation; or enroll in a political party: https://voterregistration.ct.gov/OLVR
- To check on your registration or voting location: https://portaldir.ct.gov/sots/LookUp.aspx
- Our ROV website for additional information: http://www.townofstratford.com/content/39832/39846/39935/default.aspx
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Apply for an absentee ballot: Connecticut Online Absentee Ballot Request Portal
