By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(Sept. 17, 2020) The Berlin Board of Supervisors of Elections last Tuesday certified the remaining candidates for inclusion on the ballot for the municipal election on Oct. 6.

All the candidates met the minimum requirements to qualify for the election: residing in Berlin, being registered voters in the town and, if running for a district council seat, living within that district.

There are five candidates on the ballot for mayor: Jennifer Allen, Ron Bireley, Bill Todd, Zack Tyndall and incumbent Gee Williams.

Jay Knerr and Tony Weeg are running for the at-large council seat, while Shaneka Nichols and Dan Packey compete for the District 3 council seat.

Jack Orris is unopposed for the District 2 council seat. He will be proclaimed the winner unless there are any write-in candidates by Sept. 29 at 5 p.m.

Berlin residents are being encouraged to vote by absentee ballot this year as part of the town’s effort to limit the spread of covid-19. Absentee voting applications are due to town officials by Sept. 29 at 5 p.m. A postmark date is not sufficient.

Absentee voting applications are otherwise due to town officials in-person at Berlin Town Hall, 10 William Street, on Oct. 2 at 5 p.m.

Polling places will be open on Oct. 6 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Board of Supervisors of Elections has said it will be taking safety precautions on election day to protect poll workers and voters. At a minimum, face coverings and social distancing will be enforced, Deputy Town Administrator Mary Bohlen said.

“Because government-issued recommendations and mandates can change quickly, it is important that Berlin voters pay close attention to election information over the coming weeks,” Bohlen wrote in a press release.

Bohlen informed the board during the meeting that the town is hiring poll workers for the municipal election.

“We do anticipate a fairly large turnout for the election,” she said. “Past experience has shown the more contested the election is, the higher the voter turnout.”

In addition to reviewing the election schedule, the board members were supposed to select a chairperson of the board. With Tony Bowen and Preston Whaley absent, there were not enough board members to make a decision.

The board members then updated their guidebooks with a list of current board members and their contact information, the process for voting by absentee ballot, a copy of the absentee letter form given to voters and copies of legal advertisements.

“Most of the stuff that goes into your books is really for information purposes just so that you have it,” Bohlen told the board. “It’s not necessarily forms or items that you will directly deal with.”

She added that absentee and regular ballots will be printed on security paper.

“It’s a different environment surrounding elections,” Bohlen said. “We’ve developed a much more formal process for the absentee ballots. The primary difference is simply that the ballots are going to be identified … identification is not going to be associated with the voter, but what it will tell us is if we receive any duplicates, so we know if there’s been tampering.”

The next Board of Supervisors of Elections is scheduled for Sept. 29 at 5:30 p.m.