During the first meeting of the Committee of Inquiry into Hartford's Registrars of Voters on Election Day, members examined evidence of voting irregularities across the city, and not just individual precincts.

A Committee of Inquiry probing problems at the polls in Hartford met for the first time Monday and examined evidence of voting irregularities across the city.

The committee came about after issues on Election Day caused major delays at some city polls, resulting in extended voting hours at several polling stations.

But committee members said Monday that the problems weren't limited to individual precincts. What they found were serious issues with reported figures that came from the Registrars of Voters.

According to the Secretary of the State's office, the city reported that 15,668 people voted in the Nov. 4 election, but that 17,207 votes were cast in the governor's race.

Now the committee is picking apart the disparity and trying to figure out what went wrong.

"We're going to get to the bottom of this," said Joel Cruz, Jr., a member of the Hartford City Council and a co-chair of the Committee of Inquiry. “I think it’s a perfect example of that, when something goes wrong, it’s not just one thing. We’re starting to see that there are many parts of the puzzle that did not fall into place."

With regards to the Election Day delays at polling places, a lawyer with the Secretary of the State testified that the Hartford's Registrars' office did not provide key information to the Secretary of the State, as is required by law, ahead of the election.

Av Merrill, a spokesperson for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, said the office was supposed to have the locations of polling places and the names and addresses for poll moderators, but never received that information.

Harris said he doesn't think the Registrars of Voters were properly prepared on Nov. 4.

“That was quite evident from the early hours on Election Day that the city of Hartford’s Registrars of Voters office were basically unprepared to conduct an election, and they were not prepared for the relatively large numbers of voters that came in on Election Day,” Harris said.

The Committee of Inquiry will meet again tomorrow and must submit a final report to the city council by Dec. 31.