Absentee ballots a step forward for state

Among the many changes COVID-19 brought to Connecticut was an upending of traditional voting practices. With fears of contracting a deadly disease serving as a potential deterrent for voting in person last year, an emergency order from the state allowed anyone eligible to cast a ballot to do so remotely, via absentee ballot.

This was a step forward, and allowed Connecticut to catch up, for now, with much of the rest of the nation. Some states do all their voting by mail, and nearly all of them have looser restrictions on absentee ballots than Connecticut does. Belying our reputation as a place friendly to voting rights, this state has historically had some of the most restrictive statutes in the nation on that score.

It’s good news, then, that the state Legislature extended last year’s order to cover the 2021 local elections, to be held Nov. 2. Anyone can again cite COVID-19 as a reason to vote via absentee ballot, with the pandemic a justified reason for emergency measures to continue.

But there shouldn’t need to be a reason. Absentee ballots are safe and work well for many people. There’s no good reason for the state not to move ahead and allow them in all elections going forward, pandemic or not.

Getting there is the hard part. The Connecticut Constitution is the stumbling block, and it must be amended to allow no-excuses absentee ballots in future elections. To get there, the Legislature approved a referendum on a constitutional amendment to allow no-excuse absentee voting, but opposition from minority Republicans kept the vote short of the supermajority necessary to put it on the 2022 ballot. Now it needs to be approved again by the next session of the Legislature.

It’s a hard climb to change the state Constitution, which is at it should be. But this is a change that is overdue.

Residents have until Oct. 26 to register to vote ahead of the election; Connecticut also allows residents to register on Election Day. Time is running short, and anyone interested in taking advantage of the opportunity to vote via absentee ballot should move quickly.

It’s an option that found widespread support last year. “It’s really extraordinary when you think about the fact that in 2020, about 650,000 people in Connecticut voted by absentee ballot,” Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said at a press conference recently. “When they cast their vote, they cast their vote for whichever candidates they preferred. But I think they also cast their vote for no-excuse absentee balloting.”

While opponents have seized on the potential for fraud, there is no evidence that there are more problems with absentee ballots than in-person elections. The safeguards are in place to protect the integrity of the ballot, and there is simply no indication that any widespread fraud is affecting the outcome of elections in this country, whether via in-person or absentee ballots.

It’s a good thing when more people can vote. Everyone who is eligible should be able to take part in the democratic process. Connecticut’s restrictive laws are long overdue for an update.

It’s a hard climb to change the state Constitution, which is at it should be. But this is a change that is overdue.