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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 266
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 3424
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
AN ACT REQUIRING POL LING PLACES AT INSTITUTIONS OF
HIGHER EDUCATION.
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 Section 9-169 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2019): 2
(a) The legislative body of any town, consolidated town and city or 3
consolidated town and borough may divide and, from time to time, 4
redivide such municipality into voting districts. The registrars of 5
voters of any municipality taking such action shall provide a suitable 6
polling place in each district but, if the registrars fail to agree as to the 7
location of any polling place or places, the legislative body shall 8
determine the location thereof. Polling places to be used in an election 9
shall be determined at least thirty-one days before such election, and 10
such polling places shall not be changed within said period of thirty-11
one days except that, if the municipal clerk and registrars of voters of a 12
municipality unanimously find that any such polling place within such 13
municipality has been rendered unusable within such period, they 14
shall forthwith designate another polling place to be used in place of 15
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the one so rendered unusable and shall give adequate notice that such 16
polling place has been so changed. The registrars of voters shall keep 17
separate lists of the electors residing in each district and shall appoint 18
for each district a moderator in accordance with the provisions of 19
section 9-229 and such other election officials as are required by law, 20
and shall designate one of the moderators so appointed or any other 21
elector of such town to be the head moderator for the purpose of 22
declaring the results of elections in the whole municipality. The 23
registrars may also designate a deputy head moderator to assist the 24
head moderator in the performance of his duties provided the deputy 25
head moderator and the head moderator shall not be enrolled in the 26
same major party, as defined in subdivision (5) of section 9-372. The 27
selectmen, town clerk, registrars of voters and all other officers of the 28
municipality shall perform the duties required of them by law with 29
respect to elections in each voting district established in accordance 30
with this section. Voting district lines shall not be drawn by a 31
municipality so as to conflict with the lines of congressional districts, 32
senate districts or assembly districts as established by law, except (1) as 33
provided in section 9-169d and (2) that as to municipal elections, any 34
part of a split voting district containing less than two hundred electors 35
may be combined with another voting district adjacent thereto from 36
which all and the same officers are elected at such municipal election. 37
Any change in the boundaries of voting districts made within ninety 38
days prior to any election or primary shall not apply with respect to 39
such election or primary. 40
(b) In addition to the requirements set forth in subsection (a) of this 41
section, (1) the legislative body of any town, consolidated town and 42
city or consolidated town and borough within which an institution of 43
higher education is located shall divide such municipality so as to 44
provide at each election a separate voting district containing such 45
institution, provided such institution shall have (A) reported to the 46
United States Department of Education, in the year prior to such 47
election, a twelve-month, full-time equivalent enrollment in excess of 48
three thousand at any campus of such institution, and (B) notified, not 49
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later than January first of the year of such election, the registrars of 50
voters of such municipality in which any such campus is located, and 51
(2) the registrars of voters of any municipality described in subdivision 52
(1) of this subsection shall provide a suitable polling place at, or not 53
more than five hundred feet from, such institution but, if the registrars 54
fail to agree as to the location of such polling place, the legislative body 55
shall determine the location thereof. 56
(c) The provisions of this section shall prevail over any contrary 57
provision of any charter or special act. 58
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2019 9-169
Statement of Purpose:
To establish polling places for use during elections on college and
university campuses.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: SEN. LOONEY, 11th Dist.; SEN. DUFF, 25th Dist.
SEN. MCCRORY, 2nd Dist.; SEN. CASSANO, 4th Dist.
SEN. LESSER, 9th Dist.; SEN. COHEN, 12th Dist.
SEN. ABRAMS, 13th Dist.; SEN. OSTEN, 19th Dist.
SEN. MOORE, 22nd Dist.; SEN. BRADLEY, 23rd Dist.
SEN. KUSHNER, 24th Dist.; SEN. HASKELL, 26th Dist.
SEN. LEONE, 27th Dist.; SEN. FLEXER, 29th Dist.
SEN. NEEDLEMAN, 33rd Dist.; SEN. BERGSTEIN, 36th Dist.
S.B. 266