Connecticut
Budget Outlook Clouds Connecticut's First Year of Early Voting
This election season marks Connecticut’s first year of early voting, but registrars statewide are voicing concerns that their budgets won’t be enough to cover the costs of the fall election.
Although each town received an additional $10,500 from the state to manage the change, registrars are responsible for covering any expenses associated with an extra 14 days of voting before the Nov. 5 presidential election. Towns may also have to fund an additional seven days of early voting in August if a primary election for a state or district seat occurs.
As a result, registrars in several highly populated municipalities told CT Examiner, the ongoing budget season has felt unorthodox. Cities like Manchester, Danbury and Waterbury are considering healthy budget bumps to fund additional staff, printed ballots and locations needed for early voting, but many registrars said it’s still not enough.
Meanwhile, registrars in Fairfield are facing a budget cut ahead of an unfamiliar election season.
“The concern is we’re headed for disaster and the public should be aware of it so there’s no questions afterwards,” Fairfield’s Republican registrar Cathy Politi said.
Democratic First Selectman Bill Gerber’s proposed budget allocated an additional $27,000 to finance early voting staffing and ballots and $8,848 for temporary staff, but it also removed a longstanding secretary position from the office, reducing its current budget by 22%. The Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance have since voted to increase seasonal payroll by $42,000, lessening the decrease to about 8%.
Regardless of the part-time and seasonal budgets, Politi said, office operations will be “crippled” without a full-time employee.
During a Representative Town Meeting on Monday, however, Gerber said he’s not too worried about the personnel cut.
“The administration does not think that this change will have any impact on the service provided,” he said.
According to Gerber and Interim Chief Financial Officer David Becker, the secretary was underutilized in the registrar’s office and will instead be moved to the Engineering Department. But if the registrars express that they need more help, Gerber said, the town can add more part-time staffing for them.
Democratic registrar Matthew Waggner also expressed concerns about the cut, telling CT Examiner in a statement on Wednesday that the registrars would be responsible for more administrative work.
“I think between the budget reduction and the introduction of early voting, I’d say that the types of communication, voter education, and outreach efforts we might deploy in a Presidential election year … would be constrained, as the Registrars will be more directly engaged in conducting routine administrative functions and individual service requests,” Waggner wrote.
Educated guesses
Meanwhile, Danbury officials have backed an unprecedented increase to the registrar budget, with Mayor Roberto Alves adding a requested $73,779 bump to his proposal. Election worker salaries accounted for $41,518 of the increase.
Republican Registrar Mary Ann Doran said on Thursday that the hike is almost entirely driven by early voting, but added that she’s not entirely confident in the budget plan.
Early voter turnout for the presidential primary election was low last month, but Doran said there’s no way to predict the turnout for early voting in the general election.
“We did put in a significant request to increase our budget for personnel for the early voting, but we’re not even sure if we put in enough,” she said.
Although she appreciated the mayor’s proposal, Doran said it is unfortunate that the unknown costs of early voting will primarily come from taxpayers.
On Thursday, West Hartford Democratic registrar Elizabeth Rousseau expressed support for her estimated early voting costs. Her confidence, however, came with a considerable caveat.
The budget for the West Hartford registrar’s office proposes a 16.5% increase to cover staffing expenses for the extra voting days. Rousseau, noting that all personnel in the town’s Office of the Registrar of Voters, including herself, are part-time workers, emphasized their dependence on poll workers for early voting. Wages and salaries for election workers went up 23.6%, but Rousseau said the two registrars and two deputy registrars haven’t received pay bumps in over a decade.
In 2015, registrars reportedly earned about $30,000 per year, while the deputy registrars earned about $15,500, totalling approximately $91,000. Under the latest budget request, the town has proposed a total budget of $91,350 for the four officials.
West Hartford’s town code stipulates that annual compensation for officials like registrars of voters, deputy registrars of voters and the town clerk are set by the Town Council, not through department budget requests.
“I don’t think that those salaries are sustainable in the long term,” Rousseau said. “I don’t know if they’re sustainable this year given the changes in the responsibilities of our office. Especially with early voting, we have a huge amount of work.”
Waterbury’s Democratic registrar Teresa Begnal similarly expressed confidence with her proposed budget, as long as the election season goes as planned.
With election worker compensation making up 66% of the $75,480 request, Begnal explained that she padded her budget with extra staff as she remains uncertain about the demands come November.
In March, Waterbury designated its City Hall as the sole location for the four days of early voting. But according to Begnal, the Board of Aldermen is considering opening additional locations, which she estimates could cost $20,000 each, for the general election.
“If we have to, then I definitely feel like we’ll have a shortfall in our budget,” she said.
Elsewhere in the state, two New Britain registrars said they feel reasonably confident in their proposed budget hike requests — Democrat Lucian Pawlak requested a 15.9%, or $45,108, increase, while Republican Peter Gostin asked for a 3.2%, or $9,791, bump. And Timothy Becker, the Republican registrar of Manchester, said he and his Democratic counterpart are pleased with their 9.2% proposed budget increase.
The Connecticut high school football’s CIAC postseason wrapped up with the state championships this past weekend on Saturday.
Finishing in the No. 1 spot in this week’s final Top 25 rankings out of the Constitution State is Avon Old Farms after they defeated The Williston Northampton School, 35-21, in the Drew Gamere Bowl to end their season a few weeks ago. New Canaan sits right behind as they repeated as Class L champs. Which other teams from around Connecticut high school football deserves to be in the final set of Top 25 rankings for the 2025 campaign?
The Massey Ratings, officially used during the BCS era, is a model that ranks sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule, and margin of victory.
Here are the last Connecticut high school football rankings for 2025, according to Massey as of Dec. 14.
1. Avon Old Farms Beavers
Avon Old Farms (10-0) opened up the Connecticut high school football season by avenging a loss to Brunswick School from last season and have set the tone for the rest of the campaign. The Beavers have a talented offense that’s averaging 40.7 points per game, led by quarterback Matthew Baer, running back Kharon Craig, and offensive tackle Charlie Thom (Notre Dame commitment).
The Beavers have concluded their season play out of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Counci (NEPSAC) when they defeated The Williston Northampton School last week in the Drew Gamere Bowl, 35-21. Avon Old Farms finishes as the No. 1 team in the Connecticut high school football rankings.
2. New Canaan Rams
The defending Class L state champion New Canaan Rams (13-0) have done it once again as they defeated Cheshire, 34-13.
The Rams have won back to back playoff games versus Darien and Weaver with ease, winning by a combined 85-13. New Canaan won its 16th state championship in head coach Lou Marinelli’s legendary career. With the win, New Canaan clinched their fourth undefeated season in program history for the Rams (1968, 1969, 2008, 2025).
New Canaan has used a high-powered offense to cruise past opponents this fall, with quarterback Maddox Hoffman throwing for 1,936 yards and 21 touchdowns. Running back Henry Stein leads the ground game as he’s rushed for 916 yards and seven touchdowns.
3. Choate Rosemary Hall Wild Boars
Choate Rosemary Hall (8-2) saw its 18-game winning streak snapped back in Week 1 when they lost against New Hampshire’s Phillips Exeter Academy in a battle of top-ranked teams in their respective states.
The Wild Boars will finish likely within the Top 5 of the rankings after they ended their 2025 season in exciting fashion as they avenged that defeat by beating Phillips Exeter Academy in the Leon Modeste Bowl in a 44-42 thriller.
In 2024, the Wild Boars had completed their second consecutive perfect season after defeating Brunswick School. They have lost only four games over the last four Connecticut high school football seasons and only allowed only four opponent to score double digits.
The Wild Boars are another prep school that features multiple future Division I players, including Tanner Raymond (Rutgers) and interior offense lineman Will Tellers.
4. St. Thomas More Chancellors
St. Thomas More (1-3) remain steady as the No. 3 team in our latest set of Connecticut high school football rankings after a 50-21 loss to New Jersey’s No. 3 team, Hun School to end their season.
The Chancellors only losses from the 2024 season came against Maryland’s St. Frances Academy, Hun School, and Florida’s IMG Academy, respectively. St. Thomas More doesn’t have anymore scheduled games left on their 2025 slate.
Among the players the Chancellors feature on their roster are four-star edge rusher Alhassan Iddrissu (UCF), cornerback Terron Johnson, running back Malichi Greaves, and linebacker Christian King.
5. Daniel Hand Tigers
The Daniel Hand Tigers (13-1) has dominated in the Class SS playoffs, dominating all three opponents by a combined score of 122-32, after defeating the Killingly Trailblazers, 37-13, on Saturday.
Fueling the Daniel Hand offensive attack is the strong play of senior signal caller Bobby Reh, who has thrown for 2,194 yards and 29 touchdowns to only three mere picks. Junior running back Lucca Boyce leads the ground game with 1,272 yards and 14 touchdowns.
6. St Joseph (8-2)
7. Cheshire Academy (7-3)
8. Windsor (12-1)
9. Brunswick School (6-4)
10. Greenwich (8-2)
11. Newtown (8-2)
12. Killingly (11-1)
13. Fairfield College Preparatory (8-2)
14. Wilton (10-2)
15. The Taft School (5-4)
16. Bunnell (10-3)
17. Kingswood-Oxford School (8-2)
18. Berlin (12-0)
19. The Loomis Chaffee School (3-6)
20. Darien (6-5)
21. Brookfield (8-3)
22. Staples (5-5)
23. Cheshire (8-3)
24. Southington (7-3)
25. Mark T. Sheehan (10-3)
For Connecticut high school football fans looking to keep up with scores around the nation, staying updated on the action is now easier than ever with the Rivals High School Scoreboard. This comprehensive resource provides real-time updates and final scores from across the Constitution State, ensuring you never miss a moment of the Friday night frenzy. From nail-biting finishes to dominant performances, the Rivals High School Scoreboard is your one-stop destination for tracking all the Connecticut high school scores and football rankings.
VESTAL, NY (WBNG) — In a second straight doubleheader Saturday following up a Bearcats women’s win, the Bearcats men’s team dropped their second consecutive home game, 84-67 to Central Connecticut State.
In a closely contested matchup early on, the Bearcats stayed in it heading into the break only trailing by seven points.
In the second half, Binghamton brought it to within four points before the Blue Devils pulled away once again and went on an 11-0 run and went up by as much as 20 points.
Darin Smith Jr. finished with a game high, 23 points for the Blue Devils.
The Bearcats were without center, Demetrius Lilley which led to junior forward, Zyier Beverly, having an increased role.
Beverly led Binghamton with 21 points and five rebounds.
After back-to-back losses at home, the Bearcats now go on the road for a three game road stretch starting on Wednesday, Dec. 17 against Pittsburgh at 7p.m.
Copyright 2025 WBNG. All rights reserved.
New Canaan faces Cheshire in the 2025 Connecticut high school Class L football state championship on Saturday afternoon.
The game begins at 4 p.m. EST on Saturday, Dec. 13, at Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Connecticut.
The game will stream live on the NFHS Network.
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What: Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) Class L football championship
Who: New Canaan vs. Cheshire
When: Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025
Where: Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Connecticut
Time: 4 p.m. EST
Stream: NFHS Network
Tickets: $11,50
Record, MaxPrep state rankings: New Canaan 12-0, No. 1; Cheshire 9-3, No. 11
Here’s more information about the game from the Hartford Courant, via the Tribune News Service:
New Canaan is going for its 16th state title and fourth straight under veteran coach Lou Marinelli and New Canaan outscored its playoff opponents, 85-13. Cheshire’s last finals appearance was 2009, when coach Don Drust was an assistant for the Rams’ team, which beat Staples in overtime to win a Class LL title. Cheshire rallied from a 19-point deficit against Fairfield Ludlowe to win the Class L quarterfinal game and beat Ridgefield 21-0 in the semifinals. QB Aiden Gregorich’s pass to Liam Suomala proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 10 seconds left in the quarterfinal.
What is the NFHS Network?
The NFHS Network covers more than 30 sports across the country. NFHS Network costs $13.99 per month or $79.99 per year.
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