Our Democracy 2022

Early Voting

Connecticut is one of only four states without Early Voting (including states with all-mail elections) and one of only three states whose state constitutions bar it.

Long-distance commuters, workers who may lose wages if they take time off from work, elderly or sick voters and countless others vote early in the thirty-eight states that allow it.

Candidates conduct voter mobilization efforts throughout the Early Voting period, leading to increased voter contact and turnout.

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Ban Foreign Spending on State Ballot Referendums

The question on Connecticut’s November 8, 2022 statewide ballot where voters will decide if our state will finally allow Early Voting could become a target of anti-democratic foreign actors.

The General Assembly needs to enact a specific law to prohibit contributions or expenditures by foreign nationals or entities on ballot measures in Connecticut.

Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 9-620c now sets the following limit: “A political committee formed solely to aid or promote the success or defeat of a referendum question shall not receive contributions from a national committee or from a committee of a candidate for federal or out-of-state office.” But it is silent on funds from foreign sources.

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Connecticut Voting Rights Act

Connecticut has a record of voter suppression: we were the first state in the country to enact a racially discriminatory literacy test for voting and among the last states in which literacy tests were still in use in the 1950s.

To this day, Black, Brown and other voters of color in Connecticut routinely encounter long lines and other obstacles when voting.  In 2020, the Center for Public Integrity observed that Connecticut voters still “face some of the biggest obstacles outside of the south.”

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Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Bill

In a typical election, voters cast ballots for one candidate, and the candidate with the most votes wins, even if a majority prefer other candidates. With Ranked Choice Voting, voters rank candidates in the order they prefer them, marking the ballot for their 1st choice, and if they wish, for their 2nd and 3rd choices, and so on.

A candidate wins if they receive a majority of first-choice votes, just the same as a plurality election. If no candidate gets more than 50% of first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated, and the second choices of that candidate’s voters are transferred to the remaining candidates. This process continues until one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.

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No-Excuse Absentee Voting

Absentee ballots are safe, cost effective, efficient and secure. 73% of Connecticut voters support No-Excuse Absentee Voting.  Thirty-four states offer voting by mail including the states with all-mail elections.

Connecticut’s record breaking 80% voter turnout in the 2020 General Election despite the pandemic was thanks in large part to temporarily expanded absentee ballot voting.

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