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The implementation of early voting, which received support from 60 percent of voters in a recent poll, is being challenged by a New Britain resident.
Yuri Stasiuk
Contributing reporter
Yale Daily News
Connecticut is one of four states that has yet to implement early voting. The proposed constitutional amendment is currently facing a legal challenge.
In the general election of November 8, 60.2 percent of the state’s residents approved a constitutional amendment allowing for early voting. When the Connecticut General Assembly resumes in January, state lawmakers may begin implementing early voting.
But the early vote faces a court challenge. Noemi Soto, a New England resident, filed a lawsuit against the Connecticut state and General Assembly, saying state lawmakers failed to comply with the constitutional amendment process.
“Most people don’t understand because they just look at the question and say, ‘Well, I want to vote early,'” Soto said in an interview with CT scan. “They don’t see it and they don’t know that voter security measures are being stolen from them illegally.”
According to Connecticut law, a constitutional amendment must be approved by a two-thirds vote, or a simple majority in both chambers of the Connecticut General Assembly, and then approved in a referendum. vote.
In 2019, the legislature passed an early voting resolution by a simple majority, then again in 2021. Government and the Secretary of State-elections, told the News in 2021, the early vote received “good bipartisan support.”
“There’s a lot of support among Democrats,” Thomas said. “And, I believe, about 13 Republicans voted as well.”
However, in the hearing on the early election, Soto says that the two proposals passed in 2019 and 2021 are very different, so they cannot be considered a single action.
The lawsuit is being heard in Connecticut Superior Court in Hartford. While the lawsuit is in court, the early voting law amendment is still in effect.
“The plaintiff has not sought and the court has not granted a stay in this case,” said Elizabeth Benton, spokeswoman for Attorney General William Tong, in an email to the News.
Benjamin Andrew Abrams and Alma Rose Nunley, assistant attorneys general, have been assigned to the case.
According to Benton, the court will hear oral argument on the motion to dismiss the case on December 14.
“Governments across the country have been successful in implementing early voting, and we are [at the Attorney General’s office] We are very confident that Connecticut’s early voting law reform will be passed,” Benton said.
Meanwhile, Connecticut lawmakers are looking forward to starting work on implementing early voting. Re-elected state representative Eleni Kavros DeGraw recently told the News that she hopes early elections will be held in the upcoming legislative session. He said the session will be longer than usual, so it can accommodate “public hearings, discussions and robust debates.”
Speaking to Connecticut residents from door-to-door during the campaign, DeGraw explained that early voting gives more voting options.
“Because you have people doing two jobs…people who have to work overnight, you have people who, for one reason or another, don’t get into the issues of vote no,” DeGraw said. “And we don’t want to [them] to make an exception — we want them to be able to go to the polls… We have to do what the people of Connecticut want, over 60 percent voted for it.
Congress plans to decide on the details and format of the early vote for its next session.
Thomas said in the past few months he has been talking with various stakeholders, and he is looking at early voting research. He also hopes to receive a report from the outgoing Secretary of State, so that he will be in a position in January, where he will be “well placed … to make recommendations to Congress. “
“I think it’s too early to say why [early voting] it’s going to look the same because it’s a lot of things from a lot of days… to days of the week,” Thomas said. “There are a lot of things to look at and figure out how we can implement the lack of Connecticut state government for our election management.”
Thomas added that one of the main concerns is providing the funds, equipment and security measures needed for cities to implement early voting.
“I believe that if all the speakers, poll workers and legislators get on the same page in the new year, we will be able to implement it by 2024,” Thomas said.
The 2023 Connecticut Convention begins on January 4.
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