State moves to make voting easier
As lawmakers in other states, namely Georgia, pass more restrictive voting laws, Democrats in the General Assembly have advanced a wide-ranging proposal to make voting easier in Connecticut.
The proposal would provide more opportunities for absentee voting, would require employers to give employees paid time off to vote on Election Day, expand the state’s automatic voter registration system to other state agencies beyond the Department of Motor Vehicles, and would allow people on parole to vote.
The General Assembly’s Government Administration and Elections Committee advanced the bill Monday on a party line vote.
Connecticut has some of most restrictive voting laws in country – a point underscored by Democrats in their push for voting reform. The state implemented automatic voter registration in August 2016, allowing residents when they go to the Department of Motor Vehicles for services to also register to vote or make changes to their voter registrations.
More than 550,000 new Connecticut voters have used this registration process since it was implemented, and more than 700,000 voters have used it to make changes to their voter registrations, according to Secretary of State Denise Merrill.
Merrill has said this process has also led to cleaner, more accurate voter rolls – something both Republicans and Democrats have said is needed.
Connecticut law currently allows people on probation, not parole, to vote. The bill advanced Monday would bring Connecticut in line with the 18 states and the District of Columbia and would make it clear that voting rights are restored once a person is physically released from prison.
Sen. Rob Sampson, RWolcott, the ranking member on the committee, ticked off a host of concerns he has with the proposal including provisions, which would also ban guns within 200 feet of the entrance of any polling place.
“I want to expand access, but I want to do so responsibly,” he said.
Calling the bill an “omnibus” Sampson, said he would’ve preferred “to tackle many of these items individually.”
“If this bill makes it to the floor of the Senate, I can assure you I have a lot more questions,” he said.
The proposal for a gunfree zone drew strong opposition during a public hearing, with many testifying that it violated their Second Amendment Rights. Most polling places are located at public schools, where guns are already banned.
Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott, also pushed back against the proposal to require employers to allow their employees paid time off to vote, saying that seemed like a labor issue and beyond the reach of state government.