State officials look to outline plans for no-excuse, mail-in voting

Right now, Connecticut is one of only 14 states where a reason is needed to get an absentee ballot, with things like sickness, physical disability, absence from town on the day of the election being accepted.

Greg Thompson

Oct 10, 2024, 9:33 PM

Updated 27 days ago

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Among the things being decided on this year's ballot is whether or not Connecticut will allow no-excuse, mail-in voting in future elections.
Right now, Connecticut is one of only 14 states where a reason is needed to get an absentee ballot, with things like sickness, physical disability, absence from town on the day of the election being accepted.
State Democrats are leading a push to change that, with a question right at the top of the ballot asking if Connecticut should join the others that allow every voter to vote by mail.
State Rep. Matt Blumenthal, a Democrat from Stamford, says that in those places, "it's increased access, it's increased efficiency for people across the board, but especially those who work multiple jobs, or are seniors."
While some Republicans have supported the measure in the past, state House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora says right now he is not.
"This change needs to happen, but I'm really concerned given the track record," Candelora told News 12. "I think that the Democrats have not demonstrated an ability to clean up our election laws."
Candelora is specifically referring to the 2019 and 2023 Bridgeport mayoral elections, where campaign supporters were caught allegedly rounding up piles of absentee ballots.
"Nothing really has been changed to curb or eliminate that behavior," says Candelora.
Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas says if the measure does go through, the state will need to totally redo the absentee ballot process to handle the increased demand.
At a roundtable in Hartford, Thomas said that included figuring out things like "who is allowed to disseminate absentee ballots? whether or not it can be done by political candidates, political parties?"
While Candelora welcomes the discussions, he also replied that "they're saying it now, and I'm going to hold their feet to their fire come next year."
As for an approach, Candelora recommends that Connecticut follow what Massachusetts does - allowing anyone to get a mail-in ballot, as long as they request it themselves first.
That idea has the support of Debbie Chappell, from Norwalk, since "you don't have mailing to everyone in the state, you only have those who requested it, so I think that's a good idea."
Her friend Simone DesVarenes disagreed though, saying she would prefer the state "just mail it to me, and I mail it back to you."
Linda Wieland, from Norwalk, also says she wants access to be as easy as possible, so "they should send a mass mailing to every registered voter there is."
Blumenthal says that if the measure does pass, figuring out exactly what this looks like will become a top priority of state lawmakers.