Submitted by Howard Richman, Greenwich
With all the commotion occurring about counting outstanding Absentee Ballots it is important to know how the process worked here in Greenwich. I was the Moderator for Absentee Ballot counting, hired by the Republican and Democratic Registrars of Voters, Fred DeCaro III and Mary Hegarty.
From Monday through Wednesday of Election Week we had up to 50 Absentee Ballot Clerks processing more than 15,000 ballots. After administering the Oath, thanking everyone for doing their civic duty and
reminding them there was no partiality in the room, each pair of Clerks (one Republican and one Democrat) was given a stack of 25 envelopes.
The inner envelopes were separated from the outer envelopes and checked for official Town Clerk stamps and voter signatures. (In Connecticut, any mark on the signature line counts as a signature.) The inner envelopes were then opened, the ballots were removed and fed into a tabulator. Any citizen was free to observe the process as long as they followed the rules (which do not allow standing over Ballot Clerks). More Greenwich Absentee Ballots were processed in three days for one election than had ever been done before.
It disturbs me that numerous legal challenges throughout this country are occurring regarding the Presidential election Absentee Ballot count. Election officials are dedicated public servants. They spend numerous hours checking ballots and counting votes while insuring the integrity of each vote cast.
They take the time needed to insure the vote count is completely accurate. It is unfortunate that false accusations of Absentee Ballot fraud are in the news every day.
Howard Richman
Greenwich