Branford Registrars Not Letting Sandy Get The Best Of Them

The lights are slowly coming back on for Branford residents and today the Town Hall was able to patch back onto the grid – switching from generator power. As of Wednesday, Oct. 31, 49 percent of residents were still in the dark following Sandy’s strike on Monday.

So while many in town are focused on clean-up, Branford’s two head registrars have their sights set getting having Tuesday’s elections go off without a hitch. The problem, they’ve found, is that two polling centers were still without power as of Wednesday night. Francis Walsh Intermediate School, which serves the seventh district and the Orchard House, which serves the third district, have not come back on the grid. The schools and St. Therese, which serve the other five districts, are back online.

Registrar Marion Burkard-R, was busy yesterday afternoon working out of the Town Clerk’s Office in Town Hall as the Registrar’s Office in the BCTV building on Kirkham Avenue had not gotten power back. They do have a generator, she said.

Tomorrow Burkard said she will be working a long day as voter registration is extended from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. per Gov. Dannel Malloy’s order. Voters looking to register can do so at Town Hall instead of the Registrar tomorrow. Those looking for absentee ballots can get them in the Town Clerk’s Office as well until 4:30 p.m.

Are you stressed about compounding the upcoming presidential election with this power outage, we asked Burkard? “We’re just in a mode that we have to put our other resources to work,” she said.

Registrar Daniel Hally-D said he’s not stressed about the upcoming election either. He’s ready for whatever comes and he said he’s confident that all polling centers will have power before Tuesday.

“According to the meetings we’ve had, they expect everything to be up and in order,” said Burkard. “Now it’s just waiting on CL&P.

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