Absentee ballots do the job. We don’t need early voting
Word is beginning to get out that Connecticut voters will be asked on Nov. 8 to vote yes or no on a proposed constitutional amendment that would permit “early voting.”
Supporters of the amendment such as former secretary of the state Denise Merrill (Opinion, Sept 11) claim it will make it “easier and more convenient for workers, parents, commuters, the disabled, seniors, and every eligible voter to engage in democracy.” But Ms. Merrill admits that 35 percent of votes cast in Connecticut in 2020 were by absentee ballot, a voting method already contemplated by the Connecticut constitution. It remains to be seen why early voting needs to be added to the use of absentee ballots to assure that every eligible voter can engage in democracy.
And has no one noticed that the proposed amendment simply gives the General Assembly a blank check to provide for “voting in person prior to the day of election”? There is no limit on the number of days, weeks or months during which early voting could take place prior to Election Day.
It does not serve our democracy to permit large numbers of persons to cast their votes before the candidates have fully developed their positions on the issues, engaged in their debates or by word or action embarrassed themselves on questions of fitness or character,
Also, is it up to each voting district to provide continuous staffing to receive early in-person votes during whatever period the general assembly selects? What happens to early votes between the time they are cast and the time they are counted? Who bears the cost of protecting the integrity of early votes during this period?
Finally, the scope of the proposed amendment’s delegation of authority to the General Assembly is breathtaking. Free of any restraint, the General Assembly could permit continuous voting between elections (there is no requirement that the major parties have previously nominated their candidates). It could choose not to allow early voters to change their votes prior to Election Day, undermining elections as expressions of the will of the people. Or it could choose to do the opposite, to permit potentially unlimited re-voting, with unforeseeable administrative and security consequences.
Absentee ballots do the job. We don’t need early voting.