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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6871
January Session, 2023
AN ACT CONCERNING ELECTION RECANVASS PROCEDURES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 9-238 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 2
passage): 3
(a) Except as provided in section 9-272, voting tabulators shall be 4
used at all elections held in any municipality, or in any part thereof, for 5
voting and registering and counting votes cast at such elections for 6
officers, and upon all questions or amendments submitted at such 7
elections. The board of selectmen of each town, the common council of 8
each city and the warden and burgesses of each borough shall purchase 9
or lease, or otherwise provide, for use at elections in each such 10
municipality a number of voting tabulators approved by the Secretary 11
of the State. Different voting tabulators may be provided for different 12
voting districts in the same municipality. Notwithstanding any 13
provision of this subsection, [to the contrary,] the registrars of voters of 14
a municipality [may determine the number of voting tabulators that 15
shall be provided for use at any special election in such municipality, 16
provided the registrars shall provide at least one voting tabulator in the 17
municipality or, in a municipality divided into voting districts,] shall 18
use at least one voting tabulator in each [such] voting district. 19
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective from passage) The Secretary of the State shall 20 Substitute Bill No. 6871
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develop an instructional training video on recanvass procedures, based 21
on the Recanvass Procedure Manual, revised August 2012, which is 22
published on the Internet web site of the office of the Secretary of the 23
State, provided the Secretary shall revise such instructional training 24
video whenever said manual is revised. Prior to the conduct of each 25
recanvass, the Secretary shall distribute such instructional training 26
video to the recanvass officials, who shall view such instructional 27
training video before commencing such recanvass. 28
Sec. 3. Subsections (a) and (b) of section 9-311 of the general statutes 29
are repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective 30
from passage): 31
(a) (1) If, within three days after an election, it appears to the 32
moderator that there is a discrepancy in the returns of any voting 33
district, such moderator shall forthwith within said period summon, by 34
written notice delivered personally, the recanvass officials, consisting of 35
at least two checkers of different political parties and at least two 36
absentee ballot counters of different political parties who served at such 37
election, and the registrars of voters of the municipality in which the 38
election was held and such other officials as may be required to conduct 39
such recanvass. Such written notice shall require the clerk or registrars 40
of voters, as the case may be, to bring with them the depository 41
envelopes required by section 9-150a, the package of write-in ballots 42
provided for in section 9-310, the absentee ballot applications, the list of 43
absentee ballot applications, the registry list and the moderators' returns 44
and shall require such recanvass officials to meet at a specified time, not 45
later than [the fifth business day after] five business days after the 46
moderator transmits to the Secretary of the State the duplicate list 47
required under section 9-314 for such election and not later than twelve 48
o'clock noon on any such business day, to recanvass the returns of a 49
voting tabulator or voting tabulators or absentee ballots or write-in 50
ballots used in such district in such election. If any of such recanvass 51
officials are unavailable at the time of the recanvass, the registrar of 52
voters of the same political party as that of the recanvass official unable 53 Substitute Bill No. 6871
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to attend shall designate another elector having previous training and 54
experience in the conduct of elections to take his place. Before such 55
recanvass is made, such moderator shall give notice, in writing, to the 56
[chairman] chairperson of the town committee of each political party 57
which nominated candidates for the election, and, in the case of a state 58
election, not later than twenty-four hours after a determination is made 59
regarding the need for a recanvass to the Secretary of the State, of the 60
time and place where such recanvass is to be made; and each such 61
[chairman] chairperson may send party representatives to be present at 62
such recanvass. Such party representatives may observe, but no one 63
other than a recanvass official may take part in the recanvass. If any 64
irregularity in the recanvass procedure is noted by such a 65
representative, he shall be permitted to present evidence of such 66
irregularity in any contest relating to the election. 67
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this 68
subsection, for the state election in 2020, and any election held on or after 69
June 23, 2021, but prior to November 3, 2021, (A) if, within five days 70
after such election, it appears to the moderator that there is a 71
discrepancy in the returns of any voting district, such moderator shall 72
forthwith within said period summon, by written notice delivered 73
personally, the recanvass officials to conduct such recanvass in 74
accordance with the provisions of said subdivision, and (B) such written 75
notice shall require such recanvass officials to meet not later than the 76
seventh business day after such election for such purpose. 77
(b) The moderator shall determine the place or places where the 78
recanvass shall be conducted and, if such recanvass is held before the 79
tabulators are boxed and collected in the manner required by section 9-80
266, the moderator may either require that such recanvass of such 81
tabulators be conducted in each place where the tabulators are located, 82
or he may require that they be removed to one central place, where such 83
recanvass shall be conducted. All recanvassing procedures shall be open 84
to public observation. Such recanvass officials shall, in the presence of 85
such moderator and registrars of voters, make a record of the number 86 Substitute Bill No. 6871
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on the seal and the number on the protective counter, if one is provided, 87
on each voting tabulator specified by such moderator. Such registrars of 88
voters in the presence of such moderator shall turn over the keys of each 89
such tabulator to such recanvass officials, and such recanvass officials, 90
in the presence of such registrars of voters and moderator, shall 91
immediately proceed to recanvass the vote cast thereon, and shall then 92
open the package of absentee ballots and recanvass the vote cast 93
thereon. In the course of the recanvass of the absentee ballot vote the 94
recanvass officials shall check all outer envelopes for absentee ballots 95
against the inner envelopes for such ballots and against the registry list 96
to verify postmarks, addresses and registry list markings and also to 97
determine whether the number of envelopes from which absentee 98
ballots have been removed is the same as the number of persons checked 99
as having voted by absentee ballot. The write-in ballots shall also be 100
recanvassed at this time. Any party representative present shall have a 101
right to view each ballot as it is being recanvassed by the recanvass 102
officials, so as to be able to discern the markings on such ballot. All of 103
the recanvass officials shall use the same forms for tallies and returns as 104
were used at the original canvass and the absentee ballot counters shall 105
also sign the tallies. 106
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 9-238(a)
Sec. 2 from passage New section
Sec. 3 from passage 9-311(a) and (b)
GAE Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO
APP Joint Favorable