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Chair Sue Hatfield's Recent Op-Ed

Republicans welcome expansion of ballot access, but we insist that voters have a chance to understand any changes to the voting process before it becomes law.

Endorsement by the General Assembly of two Constitutional amendments that would change the way we cast our ballots in Connecticut means that voters will soon decide if our state implements early voting and no-excuse absentee balloting.

What the amendments won’t determine is how those new procedures work. As always, the devil is in the details.

Unfortunately, there are no details: voters will be asked to pass the amendments which give the Legislature complete control over the electoral process, without us having the slightest idea what process the Legislature will impose.
There’s considerable public support for both proposals. Making things easier to vote is always popular, and desirable — all things being equal. But fair and honest elections are too fundamental for us to risk the way we choose our government without some clear answers.

When will early voting begin? If we want an informed electorate, it seems odd to encourage making a final decision early in a campaign, when fall events so often bring clarity. There’s a big and important difference between casting a ballot a week before Election Day, or months before, and we should have an idea which is coming before we open the door to it.

Last year, every registered voter received an absentee ballot application in the mail. Will that be the practice from now on? Without proper maintenance of the voter rolls, it’s an invitation to fraud, and a big new ongoing expense. If town facilities must stay opened, manned by municipal employees, who will pick up the tab?

Will the new process apply to all elections in Connecticut, or only statewide races? Will early votes be cast at a polling place, or collected at designated locations, or mailed in? If the latter, what distinguishes early voting from absentee voting?

Whatever the method, what will be the safeguards? Will it include voter I.D. or signature verification? And who will oversee the process — town clerks, registrars, or the secretary of the state’s office?

Republican attempts to define our new absentee voting system—which would have brought bipartisan support—were rejected out of hand by the Democrat majority. The big question is, what are the Democrats’ real plans?

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