ENFIELD, Conn. — In the wake of the Bridgeport ballot battle, the town of Enfield is being proactive to make sure their drop boxes are as secure as possible.
Enfield has just installed state-of-the-art surveillance cameras above their three absentee ballot drop boxes. Video surveillance alone can’t stop someone from cheating. Alleged examples of that occurred in Bridgeport. But it can deter and detect.
"There are cameras in this general vicinity but this is just upping the game in quality," said Enfield Town Manager Ellen Zoppo-Sassu.
With some spare change in the town election budget, Enfield spent about $8,000 installing the cameras at the drop boxes outside Town Hall, Enfield Express and the library. The cameras are so clear they can identify and recognize faces and license plates.
"All the film is captured and stored in the cloud so it’s easily available and backed up," said Paul Russell, the head of information technology in Enfield.
Compare that to the grainy unusable picture from the camera outside Bridgeport’s City Hall during the recent ballot fraud hearing.
"We watch current events and as any municipality probably does we run through the gamut of could that happen here?" said Zoppo-Sassu.
Enfield said the drop boxes have been popular. A few years ago, a handful of mail-in ballots sent through the postal service arrived after election day and had to be tossed out.
"There are people who are still a little hesitant about the United States Postal Service," said Zoppo-Sassu.
Not only are these cameras able to tilt and zoom. But the video is easily searchable.
"We can do a search and find all people with red shirts, all white pickup trucks and anything with a license plate ending in 412 or whatever we wanted to do," explained Russell.
So far, 574 registered voters in Enfield have applied for absentee ballots for the upcoming election. As of October 6, their requested ballot was mailed. Voters can continue dropping them off until 8:00 p.m. on election day, November 7.
"If there is any inclination for people to use the absentee balloting process we want them to know that civic engagement is important and their vote counts and their vote will be counted," said Zoppo-Sassu.
Turnout during municipal elections is notoriously low. In Enfield, in 2021 it was only about 30%. That election included more than 1,000 absentee ballots, 10 of which we rejected for issues like not having a signature.
Make sure to read your packet and follow the directions.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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