Connecticut Governor seeks extended voting hours after polling irregularities

By RYAN GORMAN

Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy is demanding extended polling hours due to "completely inappropriate" voting irregularities at multiple polls.

The governor's campaign office has filed a complaint in Superior Court seeking an injunction that would keep the polls open past their scheduled 8:00 p.m. closing time following reports of problems at Hartford polling stations.

"Because of delays and other problems at Hartford polling locations, we are filing a complaint in Hartford Superior Court asking that voting hours be extended to accommodate voters who were unable to vote or were discouraged from voting this morning," the Malloy campaign said in a press release.

"Currently the polls in Hartford are working smoothly and voters can cast their ballots. We encourage everyone to vote."

Voters arriving to many polls in the state's largest city -- and capital -- were turned away early Tuesday morning because officials failed to deliver voter lists, according to local station WTIC.

A spokesperson for Secretary of State Denise Merrill called the turn of events "completely unacceptable" in comments to the station.

Registrars eventually were able to deliver those lists, but they should have been at the polling places no later than Monday, the station reported.

Other polling stations were allowing people to vote by affidavit, according to WVIT, the local NBC affiliate. Voters were being asked to write down their name, address and phone number on blank pieces of paper before receiving ballots.

"Throughout the city, the right thing that should have taken place this morning was allow the voter to vote, write their names down and issue a ballot," Olga Vázquez, the Democratic Registrar of Voters told WVIT.

"We don't stop the process, I apologize if people, moderators, election officials, did not recall that in the training from the training put that into practice this morning."

There have been reports of fighting at the polls as well as of some of the optical scanners and monitors not working at multiple locations, according to WTIC and WVIT.

Another polling station even came dangerously close to running completely out of ballots –- before 10:00 a.m., WVIT reported.

An official who spoke with WVIT couldn't recall a polling station ever running out ballots in previous elections.

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