Would we even recognize Election Day in Hartford if it weren’t for the near-ritual of shenanigans?

As of mid-afternoon, CT News Junkie reported a low, even by our standards, voter turnout of 2.2% in the city. This number may deceive one into believing that each voter’s experience would be positive, as there’d be no rushing folks away from the voting tables and out the door.

Julie Beman, a West End resident, reports that she will be filing a complaint with the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) after her experience on Tuesday. She began by going to the District 4 polling place at the Hartford Seminary, which she said she can see from her living room. She received a voter confirmation card in the mail stating her voting location and, she said, she went online Monday night to confirm the location.

When she arrived, the moderator told her that nobody on Fern Street votes at this location. So, Beman reported to the United Methodist Church, where District 5 votes. Here, she was told that her address was not on the list. She had them check to see if she was still listed under her previous West End address. Neither appeared.

From there, Beman was sent to the library to register to vote.

Many people would have abandoned this mission, but Beman said her drive to vote for a Board of Education member, combined with her unemployment, let her pursue this longer.

Once at the Hartford Public Library, she tried to register. This is when she was informed that she was registered to vote in District 4 — Hartford Seminary. It was suggested she go across the street to the Registrar of Voters in City Hall in order to straighten this all out.

She spoke with Olga Vázquez, the Democratic Registrar of Voters, and it seemed that the matter was going to get some resolution. Vázquez called up the District 4 moderators and reminded them, albeit in a tone that sounded to Beman like “verbal sparring,” how to check for voters’ addresses; the moderators were told to call the RoV if there are issues, rather than just send voters elsewhere. Beman was given a stamped affidavit to present at District 4 and thought she was one her way.

Then, she had one more question: is there a detailed summary of the ballot questions available?

After being handed this information, Beman says that the Democratic Registrar of Voters overstepped boundaries by giving opinionated and inaccurate verbal summaries of the ballot questions, implying that the number of RoVs would be reduced, while others in City Hall would get raises. Beman says that Vázquez pointed to the two ballot questions that could directly impact the RoV and suggested which way to vote on them.

Vázquez, when asked by Real Hartford for her explanation, denied this, saying: “I didn’t suggest how people should be voting.” Asked again if he provided any verbal interpretation of the ballot questions, Vázquez said “I read exactly what the text was saying.”

In the end, Beman got to vote, but she wonders how many others from her street were turned away and ultimately unable to vote because their schedules were more full than hers at the moment.

The SEEC is investigating the Hartford Registrar of Voters already due to complaints filed following the 2012 election; voters claim that write-in votes were not properly counted and recorded.