West Hartford non‑citizen voter registration sparks Connecticut review

Connecticut officials are re‑examining the state’s motor‑voter registration procedures after a West Hartford businessman, Seyo (Sead) Cecunjanin, who was born in Montenegro, was found to have been entered into the voter rolls in 2018 despite not being a U.S. citizen. The discovery came from a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the West Hartford Republican Committee, which revealed that the DMV form marked Cecunjanin as a citizen and indicated a new voter registration. He never cast a ballot in Connecticut and has not been registered elsewhere. State investigators are probing whether the citizenship box was checked by the applicant, DMV staff, or through a processing error. The DMV uses technology from IDEMIA to transfer an applicant’s signature electronically to the voter‑registration card, a process that differs from New Jersey’s system, where a software error recently led to thousands of non‑citizens being registered. In Connecticut, the completed DMV form is sent to the local voter registrar for approval; the West Hartford registrar approved Cecunjanin’s registration on September 28, 2018. Authorities say the case highlights possible vulnerabilities in the electronic signature handling and are reviewing how such registrations are processed.