Posted on May 8, 2023
On Thursday evening, the House of Representatives debated and voted on H.B. No. 5004, An Act Implementing Early Voting.
On Election Day of 2022, early voting was passed at the ballot box by most Connecticut voters. What was not on the ballot were all the specifics of what it would consist of, and the legislature was tasked with defining it.
When all the dust settled and the final vote was tallied, a 14-day window for early voting was passed out of the House and will now await further action in the Senate. I have a serious concern for our small towns here in eastern Connecticut that will certainly be faced with staffing issues and financial concerns as well. This 14-day window does include weekends as well, and I believe a more responsible approach with a shorter time frame would have made much more sense.
Republicans introduced six sensible amendments in effort to make early voting more manageable for our municipalities across Connecticut, but all were voted down by majority Democrats. One amendment that I whole-heartedly supported, LCO No. 7382, would have taken a more realistic approach to early voting over a 3-day window. This would have made the increased hours more reasonable for local election officials to navigate and not put such a financial burden on small towns that are already facing many budget issues caused by inflation. Also, this will limit our voter’s direct access to candidates, and will prevent lesser known or funded candidates from entering the process.