Stop questioning use of absentee ballots

The widespread use of absentee ballots is a relatively new phenomenon in Connecticut. They’ve long been available, but under some of the strictest conditions of any state in the union. A voter had to be out of town or physically incapable of going to the polls to qualify for one, so they have traditionally accounted for a small percentage of overall votes.

That changed with COVID. The state made a temporary change that allowed anyone to vote absentee, reasoning that many people would be leery of going into a crowded voting site at the height of a pandemic. As a result, many thousands of people voted from home. That emergency declaration was extended to this year’s local elections, but will require a change in the state Constitution to take effect permanently.

All the while, other states do just fine with vote-by-mail systems. Connecticut is woefully behind the times, especially considering officials here are on record as saying they want to expand access to the ballot.

But as absentee ballots take on new prominence, doubts have followed.

Some of that is politically motivated. Fears of voter fraud, real or imagined, have been the driving force behind generations of laws limiting access to the ballot box, even as one study after another has shown that fraud is infinitesimally small.

Then there was former President Donald Trump, who placed much of the blame for his 2020 loss on the widespread use of absentee ballots. There was nothing behind those claims, but it inspired a new generation of doubters.

That has apparently continued into this year’s local elections. West Haven was the scene of one of the closest elections in the state, with Democratic Mayor Nancy Rossi winning by just 32 votes. The vote came in the wake of a corruption scandal that saw the arrest of then-state Rep. Michael DiMassa, who also was an employee in West Haven City Hall, on charges related to pandemic relief funds.

Republican Barry Lee Cohen, who fell just short in the mayor’s race, then raised questions about absentee ballots, including by making a request to examine the ballots himself. To be clear, there’s no indication of any wrongdoing; it was simply a close race.

Still, it’s not as though questions haven’t been raised in the past. Every talk of close races and absentee ballots in Connecticut inevitably leads to Bridgeport, which has been the site of many allegations over the years. There’s no question the local Democratic Party has a robust absentee ballot machine, and many have questioned its propriety over the years.

The most recent case was the 2019 mayoral primary, which the State Elections Enforcement Commission was still investigating as recently as this summer.

But investigations into alleged impropriety are not a reason to shut down the whole system. That would be like saying since there was allegedly fraud in West Haven that no pandemic relief funds should have been distributed. Oversight is necessary and allegations of wrongdoing should be investigated. But the overall picture on absentee ballots is one that makes it easier for people to vote and therefore allows more people to participate.

We should do everything we can to encourage that trend.