With every nomination, I always tell my supporters that I hope to continue to run until I'm out of new ideas. So far, the well of ideas has not run dry, and through technology, common sense and networking I've made the voting and election administration experience in Greenwich the envy of CT.
Below are some of the things I've done serving you as Registrar. I hope to find more ways to make every interaction we have the best that it can be.
As the first-ever state-certified Registrar of Voters in Greenwich, I take continuing education seriously. I'm always on the lookout for the next incremental improvement to make the experience more fun and engaging for our citizens.
I'm also very interested in what will attract young people. Which is why I appointed and trained the Greenwich's first and CT's youngest certified Deputy Registrar of Voters in CT history.
Some of the other innovations I've brought to the office (in chronological order):
- Deployed test of electronic voting at 2007 RTM meeting (pre-Registrar). Reintroduced concept to RTM in 2018.
- Redesigned all polling-place signage to reduce setup-time and better direct voters (2009)
- Began electronic distribution of election results via email (2010). Grew database of emails from 0 to 800 users.
- Established wait-time studies to make certain Greenwich voters have an excellent experience on election day. (2013)
- Implemented a problem-free Election Day Registration process. (2013)
- Built voter-lookup tools including polling place and voter registration lookup (2012), and party lookup (2014) to create 24/7 access to this data. *Adding absentee ballot status tracker for 2019*
- Deployed electronic poll-books to provide real-time data on voter participation at each election. (2013)
- Created Poll Worker Appreciation Day to thank our dedicated poll workers (2015)
- Implemented annual surveys of poll workers to determine areas for improvement (2015)
- Led ROV department to 2016-17 "Team of the Year" in Greenwich municipal government. (2016)
- Established a regular process of recruiting high school poll workers through AP and Honors Civics classes.
- Received Democracy Cup for Highest Voter Turnout (2016)
- Created on-line data visualizations of voter demographic data (age / gender / party) (2017)
- Sent 10 cases to the State Elections Enforcement Commission - current batting average of .667 (as of 2018)
- Provided mobile-phone-based voter lookup tools for poll workers to save paper on election day (2018)
- Re-wrote Registrar of Voters Website to include forms for voter removal, how to have a voter registration drive, and how to become a poll worker (2018)
- Published all training materials online to provide transparency for special interests, and convenience for poll workers. (2018)
- Created a video on how to vote using a special voting machine which can assist some disabled voters. Produced full closed-captioning to enhance accessibliity. (2018)
- Created the Town of Greenwich Turnout Trophy to spur competition between districts to get more people to vote. (2019)
- Investigated absentee ballots returned late to the Town Clerk, and issued press releases educating voters about the due dates, encouraging people to mail earlier. (2019)
- Created a relationship with TurboVote to automatically send reminders to voters 30 days before every election (voters opt-in to use the service).
- Produced instructional videos on how to fill out your absentee ballots, and how to avoid making common errors. (2020)
- Built an absentee ballot status lookup into the Town of Greenwich voter lookup tool. (2020)
- Created a virtual Poll Worker Appreciation Day to celebrate our poll workers during COVID. Brought together Governor Ned Lamont, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, Congressman Jim Himes, State Senator Alex Kasser, and State Representatives Olivia Floren, Stephen Meskers, and Harry Arora to show appreciation for the hundreds of people who helped out during COVID. (2021)
- Named one of the initial 10 Centers for Election Excellence in the United States. The only one in the Northeast. Awarded a $500,000 grant to be used for non-partisan election purposes. (2022)
- Created the Election Academy, a program of more than 20 hours for members of the community to get a deep dive into the conduct of elections. (2023)
- Built a new section on the ROV website specifically addressing how elections are run, including information on who works the election, how security it maintained, how a recount is conducted, and how a recount is conducted. (2024)
- Received the Community Impact Award from the Greenwich League of Women Voters. (2024)
- Created Election Academy Open Houses; drop-in events for people to get their questions answered and to demonstrate how we maintain accuracy, security, and transparency. (2024)
- Appointed by the Connecticut Secretary of the State as a Bridgeport Election Monitor to help combat absentee ballot and other fraud in the city. (2025)
- Published a manual on creating an election academy. (2025)
- Developed a polling place sponsorship program to provide free lunch and dinner for all poll workers, at no cost to the taxpayers. (2025) (Winner of National "Clearie" Award)
- Built an AI virtual election assistant to assist staff with researching the correct statutes regarding election questions. (2025)
- Created first of their kind "poll worker training flashcards" as both a keepsake and a training aid for poll workers. (2025) (Winner of National "Clearie" Award)