The League of Women Voters of Connecticut strives every day to empower voters and defend democracy. We are proud to be nonpartisan, neither supporting nor opposing candidates or political parties, and always working on vital issues of concern to members and the public.
Our 2022 Legislative Priorities include:
1. Protecting and Expanding Voters’ Rights and Access through Early In-Person Voting and No-Excuse Absentee Ballots
With the 2020 pandemic elections as an exception, Connecticut still has some of the most restrictive laws on 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, keep voter participation high, and to prepare for the next extreme weather or health-related event.
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. A resolution to amend the state constitution is necessary to vest the General Assembly with the authority to create an early voting system. We encourage everyone to vote YES on the November 2022 ballot referendum question: “Shall the Constitution of the State be amended to permit the General Assembly to provide for early voting?”
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.
2. Campaign Finance: Citizens/Clean Election Program (CEP)
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut supports a campaign finance system that ensures the public's right to know, combats corruption and undue influence, and enables candidates to compete more equitably for public office. The CEP is a model for the USA. The CEP was established to address corrupt campaign finance practices in 2005. LWVCT worked hard to pass this legislation with our coalition partners Common Cause Connecticut and Connecticut Citizen Action Group. At the 2020 celebration of its 15th Anniversary, CEP was described as “strong medicine for a very sick system.” This is why LWVCT continues to fight to protect the CEP.
3. Open Government - Transparency and Access
The League believes that the public has the right to know and participate in government decision making. CT-N allowed access to legislative deliberations when the Capitol and Legislative Office Building was closed due to the pandemic. Connecticut needs to protect and promote access to legislative processes by funding CT-N.com (ctn.state.ct.us) and Community Access TV.
Read the CT-N mission statement HERE.
5. Environment & Climate
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut supports state policies and programs which promote comprehensive long-range planning for conservation and development of land and water resources.
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