Fairfield Democratic registrar accused of deleting online voter registrations

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With Election Day two months away, Fairfield’s Democratic voter registrar is facing a new accusation of deleting online voter registrations. He insists that he did nothing wrong. It’s the latest volley in a years-long feud between Fairfield’s Republican and Democratic registrars – a fight so nasty that the state had to intervene last year. “SERIOUS CONCERNS” If you want to vote, you have to register. You can do that online or at the Department of Motor Vehicles. But at a Thursday morning news conference, Republicans accused Fairfield’s Democratic voter registrar, Matt Waggner, of deleting at least 78 of those registrations from the state’s online queue. Instead, Waggner printed out the information and processed it manually later. “It is inefficient,” said GOP registrar Cathy Politi. “It raises serious concerns about the accuracy and security of our voter data.” Each community in Connecticut has two voter registrars – a Republican and a Democrat – to keep election administration nonpartisan. WAGGNER EXPLAINS Waggner said he did nothing wrong, and that everyone who applied online is registered to vote. Waggner said he deleted the records to clear out the online waiting list, which became clogged up when new registrations were frozen for two weeks in August. “If you wanted to register as a new voter, you had to come in, in person,” Waggner said. “But we’re still getting online registrations; we’re still getting DMV registrations. All these things during that time. So what you need to do is, set them aside to be entered post-primary.” In 2022, a Republican legislative candidate accused Waggner of mishandling ballots. The State Elections Enforcement Commission dismissed that complaint, but another one is still pending. In that complaint, former Fairfield Town Attorney James Baldwin asked SEEC to temporarily remove Waggner. "Waggner’s consistent refusal to cooperate with Republican registrar Cathy Politi” has caused “dysfunction and chaos," Baldwin wrote. LONG HISTORY OF FIGHTS This isn’t the first public fight between Fairfield’s two voter registrars. In fact, Connecticut’s secretary of the state had to broker an agreement between them in 2023. Waggner called the latest accusations a political hit job. “If you come to the public with something, it had better be a really serious issue,” he said. “And I don’t think that's the case here.” But Republicans are asking SEEC to launch a new investigation. “Why is the Democrat registrar of voters deleting online voter registrations? And is that acceptable?” asked Fairfield Republican Town Committee Chair Laura Devlin, a former candidate for Lieutenant Governor. WHAT’S NEXT? The Secretary of the State’s office is still looking into the Republicans’ complaint. If there's enough evidence, SEEC could launch a formal probe. "