Bill to expand voter access won’t get a vote
Despite a last-minute push by good government advocates and Senate Democrats, a bill that would expand automatic voter registration is effectively dead after Republican lawmakers said they wouldn’t have enough time to debate the proposed changes to the state’s voting laws.
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill suggested it was an attempt by Republicans to filibuster the bill, which would have expanded voter access, an accusation Republican leaders vehemently disagreed with as the clock ticked down on the final hours of the legislative session Wednesday.
“Disappointed does not even begin to describe how I feel about that because what you’ve seen here is that voting rights have now become a partisan issue in Connecticut, just like they are around the country and it’s very disturbing because this should not be a partisan issue,” Merrill said. “This bill gives more people the opportunity to vote and it fixes the problems we saw last year on Election Day.”
State Sen. Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, refuted the idea that his caucus made any sort of filibuster threat and said Senate Democrats could have called the legislation sooner, allowing for longer debate on the bill. Fasano insisted the legislation — which passed last week along party lines 85-60 in the House with all Republicans voting no — isn’t as noncontroversial as Merrill suggested and would spur lengthy debate.
“My guys have an awful lot of concerns, questions and fears about this legislation,” Fasano said. “I told them if they call this bill my guys have a lot of questions and we haven’t had time to talk about it. We’ve got a lot of stuff in this bill, and therefore there’s going to be a lot of questions and we may end up missing other things because we’re talking on this bill.”
Merrill said she learned just before the bill was expected to be called to the floor Wednesday afternoon that Republican leaders had concerns and the bill would not be called. She said Republican legislators have not expressed to her what problems they have with the legislation, which would codify automatic voter registration in state law, digitize the process and allow some cities to have multiple sites for Election Day registration, subject to approval by the Secretary of the State. The bill also would have allowed parolees to vote, which Fasano said is one of the problems he has with the proposed legislation.
“Democrats were ready to call the bill, I was told it was next on the agenda, and then the Republicans apparently came in and declared that if they called that bill, they would shut the session down,” Merrill said. “I can’t believe it, honestly. I’m very frustrated because we really didn’t expect that. Although it’s not totally surprising when we saw what happened with the early voting amendment.”
Fasano criticized Merrill’s characterization of the situation as it unfolded Wednesday afternoon at the Capitol, and said he has not heard from the secretary of the state since the Senate voted on legislation to bring early voting to the state.
The controversy over the bill comes despite one last attempt by good government advocates to push the legislation across the finish line. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives last week.
“Connecticut, at this moment, is facing a simple choice: we can either modernize our election systems and promote good government by passing a strong automatic voter registration system, or we can refuse to act,” said Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause in Connecticut.
Quickmire criticized Senate Democrats, including State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, who sponsored the bill, for delaying bringing the bill to the floor for a vote.
“This is an opportunity to embrace a common sense reform and move our state into the future - and Senator Duff and the Senate Democrats should seize it,” Quickmire said. “Inaction should not be an option, and we’re imploring them to do the right thing.”
The law currently only requires Department of Motor Vehicle employees to ask customers if they’d like to fill out a paper form to register to vote. The expansion would allow automatic voting registration to take place in a variety of departments including health, education and social services, and it would digitize the process.
While Merrill said she can move forward to expand automatic voter registration administratively, the legislation would have codified the process in state law. She also needs legislative approval in order to accept esignatures and allow people to register to vote electronically.
With the bill effectively dead, Merrill said there have been no significant reforms to the state’s election laws this year, despite a number of problems on Election Day in 2018. A bill that would amend the state constitution to allow for early voting passed in both houses but did not receive the super majority needed in the Senate to get the question on the statewide ballot next year.