Expanded voting should be an easy sell

The opening of the 2022 legislative session in Hartford has seen a renewed push for increased access to absentee ballots on the part of majority Democrats, and an equally strong resistance to those measures from some Republicans. This is hard to understand. Expanding access to the ballot doesn’t benefit one party or another, and there’s good reason to think everyone gains when more people vote.

It’s worth looking at the concerns and having an informed discussion, but at heart, this is a simple issue. Voting is a right, and barriers to the ballot should be broken down wherever possible. That means allowing people to vote from home or in advance of Election Day, which is already the norm in many states. There’s no reason Connecticut shouldn’t join them.

Lawmakers this week planned to raise a bill that would loosen restrictions on Connecticut voters looking to cast absentee ballots during this year’s elections, following the past two years of increased allowances for remote voting necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people had legitimate fears for their health that would make voting in person questionable, and so special arrangements were made.

COVID, of course, has not gone away, even as mask restrictions in schools and elsewhere become a thing of the past. It’s certainly justifiable to extend emergency pandemic measures to shield people from potential exposure.

Eventually, though, COVID will end. As things stand, Connecticut continues to hold some of the strictest laws in the nation concerning absentee ballots, a product of their inclusion in the state Constitution. Changing that document is a cumbersome process, as it should be — such documents are meant to stand the test of time and changing trends. Still, changes are underway and will likely open up our state’s voting rights, though it will be several cycles before they could take effect.

Besides constitutional issues, other concerns have focused on the reliability of the postal service to deliver applications and ballots in time for elections. This is a fair complaint, but more emblematic of the recent underfunding of the post office than anything else. There is no reason why ballots can’t be delivered in plenty of time for elections, as has happened around the country for years in states that focus on mail-in voting.

Then there is the potential for fraud, which remains exceedingly rare in the real world but is top of mind whenever objections to expanded voting are raised. There are many protections in place, and despite all the people looking for evidence, there is simply no reason to believe election results are being changed by people voting fraudulently. Again, mail-in voting is already common in other states, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t happen here.

Because of the drawn-out process to change the state Constitution, these are fights we will likely be having in Connecticut for years to come. For now, the Legislature should expand COVID protections that allow for absentee ballots to be used during the pandemic, and work should continue on making such changes permanent.

Everyone gains when more people vote. That should be something all sides can agree on.

Because of the drawn-out process to change the state Constitution, these are fights we will likely be having in Connecticut for years to come.