Rep. Pavalock-D’Amato’s Expresses Concerns Over Election Bills

Earlier this week, I voted against a bill that would place a second constitutional amendment on the ballot to allow for no-excuse absentee voting. This amendment seems redundant and unnecessary considering that just last week the legislature passed HB-5004, An Act Implementing Early Voting, which extends the ability for someone to cast their vote up to fourteen days before an election.

Ignoring bipartisan efforts, HB-5004 was drafted by the Majority party without any input from Republicans. Recommendations made by the Secretary of the State were also ignored in addition to concerns raised by registrars of voters in communities across our state in regards to staffing, the cost to local towns, hours of operation, and the use of outdated machines.

When debated on the House floor, Republicans offered what we believed were commonsense amendments to try and make this a bipartisan process, but unfortunately all were voted down along party lines.

Our electoral process has worked for decades. While there are claims that the bills provide access to voting, proponents of the legislation fail to openly admit that no one is denied their right to vote and the laws and practices currently in place – including election day registration, absentee voting, extended voting hours and multiple polling locations provide numerous options to facilitate and encourage voting for all.

Any adjustments made to Connecticut’s election laws should be done in a bipartisan manner with the goal of providing the most safe and secure elections humanly possible.

These are the FACTS:

• You DO NOT need an ID to vote in CT.
• CT does NOT have signature verification for absentee ballots.
• In 2018, 76 Stratford voters received the wrong ballot in a State House race that was won by a Democrat by 13 votes. The Democrat run CT House of Representatives refused to order a new election.
• The CT House of Representatives has never ordered a new election to resolve disputed results.