General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6576
January Session, 2017 *_____HB06576GAE___032817____*
General Assembly
Substitute Bill No. 6576
January Session, 2017
*_____HB06576GAE___032817____*
AN ACT REQUIRING ADDITIONAL POLLING PLACES AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION DURING STATE ELECTIONS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 9-169 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2017):
(a) The legislative body of any town, consolidated town and city or consolidated town and borough may divide and, from time to time, redivide such municipality into voting districts. The registrars of voters of any municipality taking such action shall provide a suitable polling place in each district but, if the registrars fail to agree as to the location of any polling place or places, the legislative body shall determine the location thereof. Polling places to be used in an election shall be determined at least thirty-one days before such election, and such polling places shall not be changed within said period of thirty-one days except that, if the municipal clerk and registrars of voters of a municipality unanimously find that any such polling place within such municipality has been rendered unusable within such period, [they] such clerk and registrars shall forthwith designate another polling place to be used in place of the one so rendered unusable and shall give adequate notice that such polling place has been so changed. The registrars of voters shall keep separate lists of the electors residing in each district and shall appoint for each district a moderator in accordance with the provisions of section 9-229 and such other election officials as are required by law, and shall designate one of the moderators so appointed or any other elector of such town to be the head moderator for the purpose of declaring the results of elections in the whole municipality. The registrars may also designate a deputy head moderator to assist the head moderator in the performance of [his] such head moderator's duties, provided the deputy head moderator and the head moderator shall not be enrolled in the same major party, as defined in subdivision (5) of section 9-372. The selectmen, [town] municipal clerk, registrars of voters and all other officers of the municipality shall perform the duties required of them by law with respect to elections in each voting district established in accordance with this section. Voting district lines shall not be drawn by a municipality so as to conflict with the lines of congressional districts, senate districts or assembly districts as established by law, except (1) as provided in section 9-169d, and (2) that as to municipal elections, any part of a split voting district containing less than two hundred electors may be combined with another voting district adjacent thereto from which all and the same officers are elected at such municipal election. Any change in the boundaries of voting districts made within ninety days prior to any election or primary shall not apply with respect to such election or primary.
(b) In addition to the requirements set forth in subsection (a) of this section, (1) the legislative body of any town, consolidated town and city or consolidated town and borough within which any campus of an institution for higher education, as defined in section 10a-178, is located shall divide such municipality so as to provide at each state election a separate voting district containing such campus, provided such institution has (A) reported to the United States Department of Education, in the year prior to such state election, a twelve-month, full-time equivalent enrollment in excess of three thousand at such campus, and (B) notified the legislative body and registrars of voters of such municipality, not later than January first of the year of such state election and in the manner prescribed by the Secretary of the State, of such enrollment at such campus, and (2) such registrars of voters shall provide a suitable polling place at such campus but, if the registrars fail to agree as to the location of such polling place at such campus, the legislative body shall determine the location of such polling place at such campus.
(c) The provisions of this section shall prevail over any contrary provision of any charter or special act.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2017 9-169
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
October 1, 2017
9-169
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 1(b), "subsection (e) of" was deleted before "section 10a-178", "districting" was changed to "district" and "at such campus" was added after "location of such polling place" for accuracy, and "shall have" was changed to "has" for clarity; existing language was redesignated as new subsection (c) for proper form; and minor technical and conforming changes were made throughout for consistency and clarity.
GAE Joint Favorable Subst.
GAE
Joint Favorable Subst.