The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-03-15
New Registration
 System Expensive
Proposed Commissioner Plan Regarded as Less EfR- Cient and OMre Expensive Hearing Slated Mar %

Members of the local office of the registrars of voters are await ing with interest the outcome of the hearing, March 26th on the bill sponsored by the Connecticut League of Women Voters which provides for the setting up of Q commissioner of elections in the cities of more than 50,000 ,popu;a- tion in the state, to take the place of the present system of two reg istrars representing the two. par ties of the state.
 There are many arguments that can be advanced against that kino' of system, one of the officials in the registrars office, who prefers to remain anonymous, declared to- day. He pointed out that the bill makes 1t mandatory, if 1t should pass the legislature, for cities over 50,000 to install the commission ership form of registration, while in cities and towns with less than 50,000 population, 1t remains op- tional with them.
 System Optional
 There are 169 towns and cities in the state, said the official, and out of that number, only five or six are required under the provi- sions of the bill, to install com- missioner form of registration. The others can do as they please about it.
 It is difficult to see how tie commissionership form of registra- tion would be cheaper according 10 the official. In the Waterbury office there are six employed. They include the democrat and repuo. lican registrars, their two assist. ants, and two additional clerks. They take care of the registration of 38,00O voters during the year and on election day, practically op- crate the entire election with its 20 voting districts. That means, the registrars have to go about renting places for voting booths, engaging officials to serve on the voting lists, such as moderators, as- sistants, checkers and machine men, etc., and in addition, have charge of the voting machines.
 Duties of Office
 That is, the voting machines are placed under the supervision of the registrars office in Waterbury. while in other cities the machines are maintained and supervised by special officer, whose expenses and salary are set up in the par ticular city's budget.
 Those are some of the highlights of the duties of the local office. 1t could also be stated that tho Waterbury office is the only one, practically, in the state that re- mains open during election day to care for those would-be voters who for some reason, found themselves not able to vote ill the dfstric:s they believed they were entitled to vote. Tn other cities, the regis. traxg' office is closed and unless a persons name is on the voting list in the district where the person intends to vote, he simply does not vote and that's all there is to it.
 More Expensive
 Under a commissionership. with it's proposed file and index system, a number of clerks would have to be engaged to do the work that six men now do. It is difficult to see how the office could be op- erated any more cheaply than un- der the present system.
 There are some bills before the. legislature that the registrars of the state are for. They include the provisions that make 1t mandatory for personal registration. Under one of the bills, voters would have to register every five years and ev-i