2023 Connecticut General Statutes › Title 9 - Elections › Chapter 141 - General Provisions › Section 9-1. - Definitions.

Except as otherwise provided, the following terms, as used in this title and sections 3-124, 7-5, 7-6, 7-7, 7-17, 7-20, 7-39, 7-157, 7-214, 7-275, 7-295, 7-343, 7-407, 8-1, 8-5, 8-19, 10-219, 11-36, 13a-11, 45a-18, 45a-19 and 51-95 have the following meanings:
(a) “Ballot” means paper or other material containing the names of the candidates or a statement of a proposed constitutional amendment or other question or proposition to be voted on;
(b) “Board for admission of electors” means the board as composed under subsection (a) of section 9-15a;
(c) “Clerical error” means any error in the registry list or enrollment list due to a mistake or an omission on the part of the printer or a mistake or omission made by the registrars or their assistants;
(d) “Election” means any electors' meeting at which the electors choose public officials by use of voting tabulators or by paper ballots as provided in section 9-272;
(e) “Elector” means any person possessing the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution and duly admitted to, and entitled to exercise, the privileges of an elector in a town;
(f) Repealed by P.A. 77-298, S. 14;
(g) “Municipal clerk” means the clerk of a municipality;
(h) “Municipal election” means the regularly recurring election held in a municipality at which the electors of the municipality choose public officials of such municipality;
(i) “Municipality” means any city, borough or town within the state;
(j) “Official ballot” means the official ballot to be used at an election, or the official ballot to be used thereat in accordance with the provisions of section 9-272;
(k) “Population” means the population according to the last-completed United States census;
(l) “Presidential electors” means persons elected to cast their ballots for President and Vice President of the United States;
(m) “Print” means methods of duplication of words by mechanical process, but shall not include typewriting;
(n) “Referendum” means (1) a question or proposal which is submitted to a vote of the electors or voters of a municipality at any regular or special state or municipal election, as defined in this section, (2) a question or proposal which is submitted to a vote of the electors or voters, as the case may be, of a municipality at a meeting of such electors or voters, which meeting is not an election, as defined in subsection (d) of this section, and is not a town meeting, or (3) a question or proposal which is submitted to a vote of the electors or voters, as the case may be, of a municipality at a meeting of such electors or voters pursuant to section 7-7 or pursuant to charter or special act;
(o) “Regular election” means any state or municipal election;
(p) “Registrars” means the registrars of voters of the municipality;
(q) “Registry list” means the list of electors of any municipality certified by the registrars;
(r) “Special election” means any election not a regular election;
(s) “State election” means the election held in the state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in the even-numbered years in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of Connecticut;
(t) “State officers” means the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of the State, Treasurer, Comptroller and Attorney General;
(u) “Voter” means a person qualified to vote at town and district meetings under the provisions of section 7-6;
(v) “Voting district” means any municipality, or any political subdivision thereof, having not more than one polling place in a regular election;
(w) “Voting tabulator” means a machine, including, but not limited to, a device which operates by electronic means, for the registering and recording of votes cast at elections, primaries and referenda;
(x) “Write-in ballot” means a vote cast for any person whose name does not appear on the official ballot as a candidate for the office for which the person's name is written in; and
(y) “The last session for admission of electors prior to an election” means the day which is the seventh day prior to an election.
(1949 Rev., S. 1030; 1953, S. 503d; November, 1955, S. N39; 1957, P.A. 13, S. 99; 442, S. 13; March, 1958, P.A. 27, S. 34; 1961, P.A. 274, S. 2; February, 1965, P.A. 393, S. 1; 1967, P.A. 831, S. 1; 1971, P.A. 871, S. 63; P.A. 73-616, S. 8; P.A. 75-567, S. 54, 80; P.A. 76-311; P.A. 77-298, S. 14; P.A. 79-189, S. 1, 9; P.A. 84-319, S. 1, 49; P.A. 88-364, S. 116, 123; P.A. 91-351, S. 22, 28; P.A. 97-192, S. 2; P.A. 05-235, S. 26; P.A. 07-194, S. 37; P.A. 11-20, S. 2; P.A. 21-37, S. 101.)
History: 1961 act added reference in Subdiv. (f) to list compiled under Sec. 9-57a; 1965 act added reference in Subdiv. (f) to list compiled under Sec. 9-31g; 1967 act under Subdiv. (b) changed definition to “board as composed under subsection (a) of section 9-15a”; 1971 act deleted reference to Sec. 53-172 in introductory language; P.A. 73-616 deleted reference to Sec. 7-387 in introductory language; P.A. 75-567 deleted “in connection with which no question of fact was determined” in Subdiv. (c); P.A. 76-311 inserted new definition for “referendum” in Subdiv. (n) and relettered former Subdiv. (n) and following definitions accordingly; P.A. 77-298 repealed Subdiv. (f), defining “enrollment list”; P.A. 79-189 added Subdiv. (x) defining “the last session for admission of electors prior to an election”; P.A. 84-319 inserted definition of “voting machine” as Subdiv. (w), relettering as necessary; P.A. 88-364 amended Subdiv. (n)(3) by adding the words “or pursuant to charter or special act”; P.A. 91-351 substituted “fourteenth” for “twenty-first” day in Subdiv. (y); (Revisor's note: In 1993 an obsolete reference to repealed Sec. 53-295 was deleted editorially by the Revisors); P.A. 97-192 amended definition of “referendum” by inserting “or voters” in Subdiv. (n)(1); P.A. 05-235 substituted “seventh” for “fourteenth” day in Subdiv. (y), effective January 1, 2006; P.A. 07-194 replaced “Voting machine” with “Voting tabulator” in Subdiv. (w) and made technical changes in Subdivs. (a), (j) and (w); P.A. 11-20 replaced “Ballot label” with “Ballot” in Subdiv. (a), replaced “voting machines” with “voting tabulators” in Subdiv. (d), deleted references to Sec. 9-271 in Subdivs. (d) and (j) and made technical changes in the introductory language and Subdiv. (x), effective May 24, 2011; P.A. 21-37 amended the introductory language to delete reference to Secs. 30-10 and 30-11 and amended Subdiv. (x) to make a technical change, effective June 4, 2021.