In an effort to boost turnout and promote political engagement amongst Greenwich’s 12 voting districts, the town’s two registrars are rolling out some hardware this fall.
Registrars Fred Decaro III, a Republican, and Mary Hegarty, a Democrat, have come up with the Municipal Turnout Trophy, which will be given to the district in Greenwich with the highest voter turnout. The trophy was modeled after the state-issued Democracy Cup, given to a town in Connecticut after every national and state election. Greenwich won the Democracy Cup in 2016.
“I refer to it as building the muscle memory of voting,” Decaro said. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody that we have elections every November. There is no reason why someone who comes out for the presidential election, shouldn’t come out every November for local and gubernatorial as well.”
Hegarty says the trophy will be on display in Town Hall following the election, and will feature a plaque honoring the winning district.
“Greenwich does very well in national and state election years with around an 80 percent turnout. But when we have municipal elections the turnout drops. It was about 40 percent for a number of years, and now with more political engagement, it was 45 percent in the last municipal election. We’re hoping for more,” said Hegarty.
Decaro believes with so many open seats up for grabs in Greenwich this year, there’s more excitement. He hopes to reach the 50 percent mark this election.
As of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Registrar of Voters, there are 37,126 registered voters in Greenwich. Of that number, 10,257 are Democrats, 12,321 are Republicans, 13,856 are unaffiliated, and 692 are listed as “other.”
Hegarty said she’d like to see absentee ballots boost turnout following a problem in Greenwich which occurred during the 2018 midterm elections.
That year, 142 absentee ballots arrived too late to be counted. Voters should return absentee ballot applications and absentee ballots as soon as possible to allow for delays in the mail. Also in 2018, 39 absentee ballots could not be counted because the directions were not followed. The biggest problem was failure to use the inner envelope as is required by law.
Hegarty stressed the importance of following directions and procedures correctly.
If registering to vote by mail, an application must be postmarked by the 7th day before the election on Nov. 5. Alternatively, residents can turn in their application to the registrar’s office by the 7th day before the election, too.
Additionally, the State of Connecticut features Election Day Registration. If you are not registered but which to register on election day, you can go to Town Hall and do so. Election Day Registration will be available on Nov. 5 from 6 a.m., to 8 p.m.
For more information on voting, go to greenwichct.gov.
