A ballot question this fall will ask voters if Connecticut’s constitution should be amended to allow for no-excuse absentee ballot voting.
The proposed expansion to the state’s voting laws has been in the works for over a decade, and comes as 36 states, including most of New England, already offer absentee ballots to all voters or conduct elections by mail.
Connecticut does not. In order to qualify for an absentee ballot in the Nutmeg State, eligible voters must provide an excuse such as illness, absence from town during all hours of voting, or religious beliefs that prohibit heading to the polls on Election Day.
This year’s ballot referendum, which could appear on the top, bottom or even the back of the ballot depending on where a voter lives, seeks to change that.
The question reads: “Shall the Constitution of the State be amended to permit the General Assembly to allow each voter to vote by absentee ballot?”
The question is appearing as a public referendum because Connecticut’s election laws are embedded in its constitution, which means changing how elections are conducted includes a years-long process involving lawmaker and voter approvals.
If a simple majority of voters choose “yes,” state lawmakers would be allowed to propose, debate and vote on a law that would allow any registered voter to request an absentee ballot.
But if a majority votes “no,” the referendum fails.
“Then we have to start the whole process all over again,” said Tisha Rossi with the League of Women Voters Connecticut.
And that’s happened before.
In 2014, a question peppered with ‘legalese’ left voters confused
November 2014 wasn’t a presidential election, but there was a gubernatorial race in Connecticut. Gov. Dannel Malloy won a second term. Also on the ballot was a question asking voters whether to allow both early voting and universal absentee voting in the state.
But the question, which was approved by the state legislature, had some issues.
“Part of the problem was that they used ‘legalese,’” said Bilal Sekou, who teaches political science at the University of Hartford.
The question read, “shall the constitution of the state be amended to remove restrictions concerning absentee ballots and to permit a person to vote without appearing in a polling place on the day of an election?”
It was a mouthful. And while explanatory text was posted at polling places, many voters were still confused by the question.
Gary Rose, a professor of politics at Sacred Heart University, said that raised a big issue: “you shouldn't have to really be in a position where you explain things to voters,” he said.
Denise Merrill, Connecticut’s secretary of the state at the time, recalled people contacting her office concerned about what the question on the ballot actually meant.
“I think people thought that it took rights away from them, as opposed to giving them more rights to vote,” Merrill said. “It was worded in such a way that it allowed the legislature to remove restrictions in the constitution – and that sounded to people like a bad idea.”
Sekou agreed.
“They didn't really understand what was the intent of this change to the constitution,” Sekou said. “And so the default position is to keep the status quo in place.”
The measure didn’t pass with 52% of voters rejecting the referendum.
So the effort started over. Now, ten years later, a lot has happened – including a global pandemic.
‘COVID changed everything’
In 2020, many voters had concerns about being exposed to COVID-19 at the polls, including in Connecticut, because of the state’s restrictions on voting by absentee.
“I had many people calling my office upset because they weren't going to be able to vote,” Merrill, who was still in office during the height of the pandemic, said.
She and Gov. Ned Lamont got together to see how, combined with his emergency powers, there might be another option.
Looking at the constitution, Merrill said they found a provision interpreted to mean that, “basically in a special situation, that we could allow people to use an absentee ballot even though they didn't fit into one of the categories listed in the state constitution.”
Lamont issued an executive order in May. That summer, ACLU Connecticut also filed a lawsuit. In a July special session the legislature ratified the governor’s move, and, as a result, all registered voters were mailed an absentee voting application.
That year, 35% of Connecticut’s general election vote came in by absentee ballot – almost four times the amount that the 2016 election brought in.
Across the country, other local governments also were making absentee voting available. Nationwide, mail-in ballots made up nearly half the votes in 2020.
“I honestly think COVID changed everything,” Merrill said.
But Connecticut’s change to absentee ballot rules was only temporary. Still, the momentum for election reform has continued. In 2022, voters approved early voting in Connecticut with over 60% approval. That went into effect this year.
In 2023, the General Assembly, including all Democrats and several Republicans, approved this year’s ballot referendum to expand absentee ballot access. But some are skeptical of the change, voicing concerns about ballot security and pointing to election misconduct in Bridgeport.
According to Sekou, the University of Hartford politics expert, Connecticut probably would already have no-excuse absentee voting if amending the state’s election laws took a simple legislative fix rather than a constitutional change.
But on the flip side, “there are a lot of states that move in the other direction” when it comes to voting rights, Sekou said. “Connecticut moves in the direction of making voting more convenient.”
