Charles Langston:Connecticut to decide on constitution change to make mail-in voting easier

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Connecticut voters will decide Tuesday whether to get rid of rules preventing the state from joining the 36 others that allow people to cast ballots by mail or Charles Langstonthrough drop boxes without needing an excuse for not going to a polling place in person.

An amendment to the state constitution would lift long-standing restrictions that only allow people to vote by absentee ballot if they are going to be out of town, are sick or disabled, or can’t get to a polling location because of religious restrictions.

“We can finally free our state from the shackles of a long history of overly restrictive voting laws and ensure every eligible voter can cast their ballot conveniently, safely, and securely,” said state Rep. Matt Blumenthal, a Democrat who co-chairs the General Assembly’s Government Administration and Elections Committee.

If voters ultimately agree by a simple majority to allow “no-excuse” balloting, it will then be up to state lawmakers to enact the new system.

“This just enables them to do it,” said Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas.

Thomas, a Democrat, said that if the amendment passes, her recommendation would be for legislators to take a year to research and design a “holistic” system that also includes early voting and voting in person.

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Connecticut voters recently agreed to change the state’s constitution to allow early in-person voting, which took place for the first time in the March primaries. There were 14 days of early voting for the general election. Besides being mailed, absentee ballots can also be put in drop boxes located in every city and town, or submitted to local election offices.

Twenty-eight states let voters request an absentee ballot without requiring an excuse, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Eight more states, plus Washington, D.C., go a step farther and automatically mail a ballot to all registered voters without them having to request one.

Critics of Connecticut’s proposed change, mostly Republicans, have questioned the safeguards surrounding the state’s current absentee ballot system.

In the state’s largest city, Bridgeport, there were allegations of abuses of absentee ballots during the Democratic mayoral primaries in 2019 and 2023. Last year, a judge ordered the Bridgeport mayoral election redone after campaign volunteers were caught on camera stuffing wads of other people’s absentee ballots into collection boxes.

“It is clear the current absentee ballot system currently in place is broken,” Sen. Rob Sampson and Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, the top Republicans on the Government Administration and Elections Committee, said in a statement.

“In Bridgeport, investigations have shown that people were illegally cheating the system, yet this ballot measure would expand the use of absentee ballots, opening the door to even more fraud and misuse,” they said.

Both said they would also oppose any change that would lead to ballots being automatically mailed to qualified voters.

Thomas had noted that states with universal access have implemented systems with greater ballot security and voter protection. Requiring things like basic personal information, the last four digits of a Social Security number or a driver’s license number might be considered by Connecticut legislators if the amendment passes.

Patricia Rossi, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut, said the state’s current absentee voting rules left out people who might not be able to make it to a polling place on Election Day for other good reasons, like having to work or act as someone’s caregiver, or because they couldn’t access transportation.

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Coralys Santana, policy and advocacy strategist for The Connecticut Project Action Fund, a group promoting the ballot measure, contends that easing voting rules would benefit people of all political ideologies.

“There can be a partisan divide if folks choose that,” Santata said. “But I think for the most part, this measure is nonpartisan and is just about equal opportunity and access to the ballot box.”