By Andy Brophy

WESTPORT–Mike Durkin, who will be the new Democratic registrar of voters in early January, said he first became interested in the process of voting in Westport when he was a poll worker during the COVID pandemic six years ago.

“I first started working the polls in 2020 when the town struggled to find poll workers,” Durkin, 58, said in an interview outside The Westport Library’s cafe. “I walked into a line 45 minutes long at Saugatuck Elementary (School) at 5:30 in the morning.”

“That day proved to me how important voting is and that we have a tremendous voting culture in Westport,” Durkin said.

From that day forward, Durkin said he wanted to be a poll worker whenever he was available.

Durkin, who’s lived in Westport since 1998 and is married with two children, will be unopposed for the Democratic registrar of voters in Tuesday’s election. The nine-member nominating committee of Westport’s Democratic Town Committee reviewed 15 applicants for the position, interviewed 10 and nominated him, Durkin said. He was then approved by the 70-member DTC.

Durkin’s position is part-time (19 hours a week) and his salary will be $52,087 a year, plus a $6,000 stipend for Primaries, a $10,000 stipend for each election in November, a $1,000 stipend for an audit of election results, and a modest stipend to attend conferences.

Durkin will replace Deborah Greenberg, the current Democratic registrar of voters who’s retiring after five years. Durkin will join in the registrars’ office Maria Signore, the Republican registrar of voters. His term will last four years.

Durkin said he’s had an eclectic career that’s included sports marketing and technology, where he helped build websites. He owned Solostream in Westport, which builds websites, but said he sold the business years ago.

Durkin serves on the town’s Golf Advisory Committee and said he’s “played my fair share of golf” at Longshore Club Park. He said he’s also captain of a Longshore paddle tennis team and serves on the board of directors of the Platform Tennis League in Fairfield County.

Durkin said the registrar of voters’ position comes through the political process, but each registrar does his or her job in a non-partisan fashion. “Once you take office, we’re here to support all Westport voters regardless of party,” he said. “This is a job I wanted to take at this point in my career because I can make a meaningful contribution to our voters here in Westport.”

As a new registrar of voters, Durkin will undergo online training administered by UConn’s School of Public Policy that consists of eight sections:

• Election administration, laws and regulations;
• Voter registration, maintaining voter lists and service to voters;
• Registrars office management;
• Petitions;
• Preparing for elections, primaries, referenda and Election Day registration;
• Conducting elections, primaries, referenda and Election Day registration;
• Absentee voting and supervised absentee voting; and
• Post-election audits and recanvasses.

After completing all eight sections, Durkin will take a certification exam that is two hours long and open book and where the passing grade is 70 percent.

Durkin has two years from his first day in office to complete the training and take the exam but said he plans to do both much sooner.