On Election Day, Connecticut ballots will include an important question in addition to the usual Federal and State races. The ballots will ask voters to vote “Yes” or “No” on the following:
“Shall the Constitution of the State be amended to permit the General Assembly to provide for early voting?”
Connecticut is one of just a handful of states which does not currently offer early voting. There was a similar referendum question on the ballot in 2014 which was voted down.
When assessing if early voting is right for Connecticut, it is worth considering how voting works here. In Connecticut, elections are run by each of our 169 municipalities – towns like New Canaan. Polling places are set up and overseen Registrars of Voters, part-time officials who already work very hard to make sure our single-day elections run smoothly. Absentee Ballots are managed by Town Clerks who also have lots of unrelated responsibilities as well. This decentralized system is fundamentally different than most other states which organize their election infrastructure around counties. Delaware, another small state which currently offers Absentee Voting, offers just 4 polling places for early voting statewide.
While we see the obvious value in improving access to the polls, this open-ended referendum question should viewed with some skepticism. Here are some of our concerns:
- Open-Ended Authority – The referendum proposes allowing Early Voting without providing any boundaries or limitations. The State legislature can adopt a law mandating any early voting period by a simple majority vote. Do we want 46 days of early voting like they have in Minnesota? Can we afford to staff voting sites in every town for weeks? Probably not, but once you vote “yes” on the referendum question, the details are out of the voter’s hands. For voters voting “Yes” on the ballot question, it will be “In the Connecticut State Legislature we trust …”
- Unfunded Mandate – Massachusetts passed a law in 2014 that allowed 14 days of early voting. Like Connecticut, Massachusetts’ elections are run locally and the cities and towns have battled the state over costs every election cycle since the law went into effect. In 2017, the state auditor ruled that early voting was an unfunded mandate, but election funding has still not been permanently included in the state’s budget.
- Reduced Voter Engagement – In Connecticut, we hold our primaries in mid-August. If early voting starts in mid-October, campaigns will have just 2 months to reach voters before votes are cast. It also allows little time for candidates to be vetted by the press and opposing candidates. In most early-voting states, voters are not permitted to change their vote once an early vote has been cast.
- Overwhelming Responsibility for Town Hall – New Canaan’s Town Clerk and Registrars dealt with a blizzard of Absentee Ballots in 2020 and 2021when Connecticut opened Absentee Ballot voting to everyone because of COVID. It was overwhelming for everyone involved. This experience gives them a very clear idea of the difficulties they will face if Connecticut approves Early Voting.
Connecticut consistently ranks in the top quartile in voter participation. We already allow voters to vote early via an Absentee Ballot provided that they will be out of town or otherwise meet the Absentee Ballot criteria.
While considering if Connecticut should have an early voting law, keep in mind another law that always applies – the law of unintended consequences.
Totally disagree. Access to voting by more Connecticut residents “trumps” all arguments stated in this op ED. As to implementation, Connecticut towns and cities have the human and funding capital to make it happen efficiently. Just because a change that benefits more voters is challenging, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. It’s time for Connecticut to enter the 21st Century and implement this change.
As usual, there are tradeoffs Hutch. People’s concern about the integrity of elections has only intensified since Bush vs. Gore in 2000, culminating in the fiasco of 2020. Expanding voting times, places and methods will only increase people’s lack of faith in the process. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that citizens vote on Election Day (make it a national holiday?), with mail-ins permitted in exceptional cases.
The Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments guarantee ALL Americans the right to vote. Let’s end this charade about “people’s concern about the integrity of elections” and start honoring that Constitutional right. Connecticut should adopt early voting now and join the 8 states that already have universal mail-in balloting.
Who said anything about denying people the right to vote? The Overton window in America has moved so far that requiring people to show up on election day with some form of identification is considered voter suppression—-how far we’ve sunk.
That’s the trick, right? Never say it out loud.
So the chair of the Republican Town Committee is against early voting. Hmmm.
I want people to understand what they are voting for. If you read my OpEd and choose to vote “yes” then great – you are doing so as an educated voter.
For the record, neither the New Canaan RTC nor the CT Republican Party have taken a position on the referendum.
What a bunch of red herrings! If the primaries are too late to accommodate early voting, change the primary dates. The “blizzard” of absentee ballots occurred during the pandemic, which is not the issue it was in 2020-21, and besides, the Town Clerk handled the storm without being “overwhelmed.” If 46 days is too much (why?), the Legislature can evaluate the number of days of early voting that balances costs with the objective of allowing as many people to vote as we can.
This apparently “reasonable” statement of the “problems” of the early voting amendment is just a screen for another Republican attempt to keep as many people from voting as they can, for fear that those newly enfranchised voters will vote Democratic. They’re doing it all over the country, and it will be a sad day for America if they succeed.
100%, Ben! I will never get on board with anyone saying, “we’re unwilling to invest in any additional clerical work that ensures all voices be counted.” Pure hogwash, except I think there’s a stronger word for it.
Hysterical.
So the logic is we shouldn’t have early voting because absentee voting was too successful in 2021? Or that we shouldn’t burden election volunteers and staff with the exact thing that they signed up for? Or that two months isn’t enough time for someone to process a candidate’s website, mailer, social media, interviews or stump speeches? Or that, in general, we shouldn’t support anything that the CT State Legislature might get their hands in because what an untrustworthy-group-of-people-we-voted-for they are!
Nonsense.
The idea that helping more people get their voices heard and their votes counted is anything but a totally incredible win for democracy is preposterous.
Vote yes for (early) voting. Duh.
Delighted to learn about the “Overton Window”. On this issue, being strongly pro-early voting and seeing what the rest of the country is doing, I believe it’s time to turn early voting into policy. We can solve the administrative issues.
Indeed. Following the crowd is a great alternative to thinking.