Wilton’s absentee ballot voting precinct is among 52 Connecticut precincts randomly selected for a post-election audit following the Aug. 11 Democratic and Republican primaries.
The audit is not prompted by any suspected problem with Wilton’s results. State law requires the Secretary of the State’s Office to randomly select at least 5% of voting districts across Connecticut for an audit after elections and primaries. The reviews compare ballots with tabulator results to confirm that the machines counted votes accurately.
“Think of the lotto balls,” Democratic Registrar of Voters Karen Birck told GOOD Morning Wilton, describing the random selection process. “They put all of the possible districts in … and they randomly choose.”
Wilton has opted to conduct the review through the University of Connecticut’s audit system rather than bringing in poll workers to perform a manual count locally.
Under the UConn process, the ballots are run through a scanner and projected onto a screen. Election officials then indicate which candidate received the vote.
In the Wilton primary, each party had a separate ballot containing one contested race with two candidates. Birck said that simplicity should leave officials with few questions about voter intent.
“This audit is basically … auditing the accuracy of the tabulators,” she said.
Birck and Republican Registrar of Voters Annalisa Stravato are expected to bring the absentee ballots, tabulator tapes and moderator’s return to Hartford for the audit. As of Birck’s Wednesday, Aug. 26 interview with GMW, the Secretary of the State’s Office had not finalized Wilton’s appointment. The audit must be completed by Thursday, Sept. 3.
The audit is one part of a broader system of checks intended to ensure Connecticut elections are conducted fairly and accurately and to protect the process against errors or fraud. That system includes documented testing and sealing of tabulators, bipartisan staffing, detailed election records and a chain of custody for ballots and voting equipment.
The moderator’s return documents the absentee ballot-counting process, including the identification numbers on tabulator seals, confirmation that each machine began with a zero count and the final vote totals. Notarized affidavits record when the Town Clerk transferred any absentee ballots to the registrars and establish their chain of custody.
Under a new state law that took effect this year, any eligible Connecticut voter may apply for an absentee ballot without providing a reason. After receiving a ballot from the Town Clerk, a Wilton voter may return it by mail, deliver it to the Town Clerk’s Office or place it in the secure ballot drop box outside Town Hall.
Wilton’s absentee ballot precinct tabulates all absentee ballots cast in the primary, including those returned to the Town Clerk as well as those completed through supervised voting at senior living facilities.
Birck said Brookdale, Sunrise, The Greens at Cannondale and Wilton Meadows qualified for supervised absentee balloting during the primary. Residents eligible to vote who wanted to participate in the primary first applied for absentee ballots through the Town Clerk. Representatives of the registrars’ office then visited the facilities to oversee voting before the completed ballots were returned to the Town Clerk and later transferred to the registrars for counting.
According to Birck, she and Stravato work to maintain election integrity and bipartisanship at every step of the voting process. That means the two coordinate on nearly every aspect of election planning, including tabulator testing, securing machines after each day of early voting and transporting ballots back to Town Hall for storage.
“We are very conscientious about testing the tabulators, doing it in a public way, doing it together,” Birck said.
Birck told GMW they also do whatever is possible to have each party represented at every step of the way, paring Democratic and Republican election workers throughout Wilton’s voting process.
For absentee ballot voting, a Democrat and a Republican were sent to each senior living facility for supervised absentee balloting, while both parties were represented on the team that counted absentee ballots.
The registrars also sought equal party representation during early voting and on Primary Day. Democratic and Republican moderators divided the early voting days, although the odd number of early voting days meant one party’s moderator served one additional day. On Primary Day, the polling-place moderator and absentee ballot moderator represented different parties.
Wilton was last selected as an alternate for a post-election audit in 2024 and 2025, and according to press reports last underwent an audit in 2011.
