Time Range For Action Alert:
December 18, 2020 to December 31, 2020December 18, 2020
While the weather outside may be frightful and pandemic restrictions prevail, our legislators are hard at work deciding which bills to promote in the session that begins January 6, 2021.
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 challenges, Connecticut voters were determined to be heard in the 2020 General Election:
- We had record voter turnout of nearly 80% of registered eligible voters.
- Nearly one-third (650,000) of voters voted by absentee ballot —thanks to emergency legislation permitting the use of absentee ballots due to health safety concerns during COVID-19 pandemic.
With the 2020 pandemic elections as an exception, Connecticut still has some of the most restrictive laws when it comes to access to the ballot. Across the United States, 44 states permit some kind of in-person Early Voting and two-thirds of states offer No-Excuse Absentee Voting. We need to update our voting laws to bring us in line with the majority of states and to prepare for the next extreme weather or health-related event.
Background to LWVCT Early Voting and Absentee Ballot Advocacy:
LWVCT 2021 legislative priorities put voters and their right to vote at the center of our concerns. Along with other voter access legislation, LWVCT has testified in favor of Early Voting and No-Excuse Absentee Ballots for one or more of the previous three sessions of the CT General Assembly.
Early Voting: Legislation to amend the state constitution was proposed in 2018, 2019, 2020. The League believes that every citizen should be protected in the right to vote, and therefore encourages efforts to maximize voter participation and early voting. This resolution to amend the state constitution is necessary to vest the General Assembly with the authority to create an early voting system.
No-Excuse Absentee Ballots: LWVCT supported legislation in 2019 and 2020. The League supports measures which assure that absentee ballot privileges are available to all electors for any reason or no reason at all. The League supports provisions to make it easier to vote by absentee ballot and minimize the number of ballot rejections.
Be assured that we will also be supporting additional legislation that increases voters' access to the ballot.
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