Petition paperwork has gone missing from the Hamden Registrar of Voters office. Hamden Mayor Adam Sendroff sent out an email press release on Tuesday at 11:55 a.m. about how he has alerted the town’s police department and state election-oversight agencies about the matter. Tuesday’s press release states that, on the morning of Sunday, June 14, Sendroff “was notified by a Deputy Registrar of Voters that petition sheets submitted by at least one candidate seeking ballot access could not be located. “Upon receiving this information, Mayor Sendroff contacted the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s Office, the State Elections Enforcement Commission, and the Hamden Police Department. The Hamden Police Department has opened an investigation, and the matter is being reviewed by the appropriate authorities.” Hamden Democratic Registrar of Voters Lushonda Howard declined to comment for this story. “At this time I am not going to make a comment because I am seeking legal counsel about what has transpired,” she told the Independent. Sendroff’s press release concludes by stating that Hamden will continue to “fully cooperate with all agencies involved. We take election security and the integrity of our electoral process seriously and will provide any assistance necessary to support a thorough investigation.” Hamden Police Department Det. Hailey Zarzuela, the department’s public information officer, declined to comment further on this matter and declined to release relevant police reports. “As this remains an active investigation, the Hamden Police Department cannot provide any additional details beyond the information included in the initial statement,” she wrote. State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) spokesperson Joshua Foley also declined to comment. Matthew Clyburn, a spokesperson for the Secretary of the State’s office, confirmed that Sendroff alerted his office on Sunday about petitions that had gone missing from the Hamden Registrar of Voters office. Clyburn said he does not know how many petitions were missing or for what races. Tuesday at 4 p.m., meanwhile, is the state deadline for local registrars to return petitions to the Secretary of the State’s office for candidates looking to petition their way onto the Aug. 11 primary ballot. Andrew Rice, a 37-year-old democratic socialist from Milford, is one of those petitioning candidates. He is challenging 18-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro for the Third Congressional Seat. In the runup to last Tuesday’s 4 p.m. candidate-petition deadline, Rice sought to collect 3,386 signatures from Third Congressional District Democrats — including in Hamden — in order to make it onto the Aug. 11 primary ballot. Rice did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article about this latest missing-petition-paperwork issue in Hamden. Meanwhile, Howard, the incumbent Hamden Democratic registrar of voters who ran for mayor last year, is also looking to petition her way onto the Aug. 11 primary ballot, after former Hill alder and former Hamden economic development director Jackie James-Boyd secured the Hamden Democratic Town Committee’s endorsement for the Democratic registrar job in May. “The recent concerns surrounding petitions associated with the Office of the Registrar of Voters serve as an important reminder of our collective responsibility to uphold the highest standards of integrity in all aspects of the electoral process,” James-Boyd told the Independent in a statement Tuesday. “It is essential that we approach these matters with respect for due process, a commitment to the facts, and a shared goal of strengthening public confidence in our elections.” The post Hamden Mayor Reports Missing “Petition Sheets” appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less