New Windsor Group Wins Saturday Vote, Pushes for Greater Voter Turnout

Voter turnout was expectedly low in Windsor's latest major voting events: 2011's budget referendum and municipal elections. Voter turnout was just over 10 percent and just under 30 percent for the referendum and municipal elections, respectively.

But in a major election year, and with a referendum to fund the reconstruction of Windsor High School's Milo Peck Auditorium only days away, a new group in town is working to change both voter turnout and expectations of voter participation.

WindsorCTVotes was recently formed to affect change at polling places in town, and they already have one win under their belt.

The group recently submitted a petition to the Windsor Town Council to move the auditorium referendum from a weekday to Saturday, an effort aimed at making the process of voting easier for residents, particularly those for whom finding the time to make it to the polls on a Tuesday can be difficult.

"I was concerned about a number of voting issues," says WindsorCTVotes founder Cheryl Curtis, whose concern pushed her to act following the release of voter-turnout numbers in 2011.

"I'd like to see those numbers increase, and not just have a very small percentage of the population making decisions about what goes on in town," she says.

"One of the things I've seen people talk about nationally ... is to try to think out of the box about what it is that we do in terms of voting."

In February, town council members agreed to take voting in Windsor outside of the box — a Sat., March 10, referendum to approve financing $2.5 million for the high school roof.

WindsorCTVotes is hoping that the Saturday vote is just the beginning of efforts to make it easier for residents to show up at polling places.

"I think it'll help to put (voting) on a weekend, because on a weekday when you're working you'll either have to leave really early in the morning, which is really tricky when you're trying to get a family together and out the door to schoo l... or you get home from work and there are always obligations," says Marilyn Boehm, a member of WindsorCTVotes and the Windsor League of Women Voters.

Another hurdle, Boehm says, is just getting people interested and understanding the issues at hand during a referendum or election, but, she adds, increasing voter participation is a two-way street.

"First, you have to make it an open process that meets the needs of everybody, and then the public has to do their part to get their little bodies down there or fill out the absentee ballot," she says.

Having polling stations open on a weekend day and extending absentee balloting — Curtis says WindsorCTVotes would support efforts to pass no-excuse absentee balloting in the state — are only a couple of the major steps that the group hopes will become common practice in Connecticut.

"I've been looking at the Republican caucuses and I've seen that there are some states that allow voting for the whole week," Curtis says. "I think that has a lot of potential too. I know that's something that the state would have to approve, but that's something that we would support."

Saturday's referendum is the first evidence of WindsorCTVotes' work to increase turnout, but Curtis hopes that it won't be the last time the polls will be open on Saturday this year.

"We have a budget coming up, and I'd like to see a weekend vote for that as well. Or maybe it becomes a part of the permanent landscape, "she says. "The message is: Yes we want you to vote, and we want to try to make that as easy for you as possible."

The referendum for the Windsor High School auditorium project will be held on Sat., March 10 from 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. Only one polling place, Town Hall, will be open.

To learn more about WindsorCTVotes, like their Facebook page and follow the group on Twitter.