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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 1163
January Session, 2025
AN ACT CONCERNING QUALIFICATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS
APPOINTED TO SERVE AS MODERATORS AT ELECTIONS AND
PRIMARIES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (d) of section 9-229 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective January 2
1, 2026): 3
(d) If the person designated as moderator is unable to serve for any 4
reason, a certified alternate moderator shall serve as moderator. If such 5
certified alternate moderator is not called upon to serve as moderator, 6
he shall serve in another capacity as an election official on election or 7
primary day. If any town or voting district lacks a moderator due to the 8
death, disability or withdrawal of a certified moderator or alternate 9
moderator, or due to the disqualification of a moderator for any reason, 10
including failure to attend an instructional session as required by this 11
section, the registrars of voters shall appoint a new moderator for such 12
town or voting district in the manner provided in this section, except 13
that the registrars shall not appoint as moderator any person who has, 14
in a court of competent jurisdiction, been convicted of or pled guilty or 15
nolo contendere to any (1) felony involving fraud, forgery, larceny, 16
embezzlement or bribery, or (2) criminal offense under this title. Such 17
new moderator shall attend an instructional session and a certification 18 Substitute Bill No. 1163
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session conducted in accordance with the provisions of this section. If 19
all such sessions have been conducted at the time of appointment of the 20
new moderator, the new moderator shall receive instruction from the 21
registrars who appointed the new moderator. 22
Sec. 2. Section 9-169 of the general statutes is repealed and the 23
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective January 1, 2026): 24
The legislative body of any town, consolidated town and city or 25
consolidated town and borough may divide and, from time to time, 26
redivide such municipality into voting districts. The registrars of voters 27
of any municipality taking such action shall provide a suitable polling 28
place in each district but, if the registrars fail to agree as to the location 29
of any polling place or places, the legislative body shall determine the 30
location thereof. Polling places to be used in an election shall be 31
determined at least thirty-one days before such election, and such 32
polling places shall not be changed within said period of thirty-one days 33
except that, if the municipal clerk and registrars of voters of a 34
municipality unanimously find that any such polling place within such 35
municipality has been rendered unusable within such period, they shall 36
forthwith designate another polling place to be used in place of the one 37
so rendered unusable and shall give adequate notice that such polling 38
place has been so changed. The registrars of voters shall keep separate 39
lists of the electors residing in each district and shall appoint for each 40
district a moderator in accordance with the provisions of section 9-229, 41
as amended by this act, and such other election officials as are required 42
by law, and shall designate one of the moderators so appointed or any 43
other elector of such town to be the head moderator for the purpose of 44
declaring the results of elections in the whole municipality, except that 45
the registrars shall not appoint as moderator any person who has, in a 46
court of competent jurisdiction, been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo 47
contendere to any (1) felony involving fraud, forgery, larceny, 48
embezzlement or bribery, or (2) criminal offense under this title. The 49
registrars may also designate a deputy head moderator to assist the 50
head moderator in the performance of his duties provided the deputy 51
head moderator and the head moderator shall not be enrolled in the 52 Substitute Bill No. 1163
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same major party, as defined in subdivision (5) of section 9-372. The 53
selectmen, town clerk, registrars of voters and all other officers of the 54
municipality shall perform the duties required of them by law with 55
respect to elections in each voting district established in accordance with 56
this section. Voting district lines shall not be drawn by a municipality so 57
as to conflict with the lines of congressional districts, senate districts or 58
assembly districts as established by law, except [(1)] (A) as provided in 59
section 9-169d, and [(2)] (B) that as to municipal elections, any part of a 60
split voting district containing less than two hundred electors may be 61
combined with another voting district adjacent thereto from which all 62
and the same officers are elected at such municipal election. Any change 63
in the boundaries of voting districts made within ninety days prior to 64
any election or primary shall not apply with respect to such election or 65
primary. The provisions of this section shall prevail over any contrary 66
provision of any charter or special act. 67
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 January 1, 2026 9-229(d)
Sec. 2 January 1, 2026 9-169
GAE Joint Favorable Subst.