Mae Flexer

SENATOR FLEXER LEADS SENATE PASSAGE OF NO-EXCUSES VOTING RESOLUTION

HARTFORD – State Senator Mae Flexer this evening led final passage in the state Senate of a resolution that will remove the Connecticut constitution’s current, multiple restrictions on absentee voting and allow for “no-excuses” absentee voting if Connecticut residents approve of that when the question is placed on the 2024 general election ballot.

The resolution passed the Senate this evening on a 26-8 vote. This same resolution was approved by Democrats in both the House and Senate in 2021, but with enough opposition from Republican legislators to require an additional vote in the General Assembly this year.

“Democracy in Connecticut is marching forward with this bill. Democracy in Connecticut is marching forward with our early voting bill, which the people of this state asked us last fall to pass into law. Bit by bit, Connecticut is pulling itself out of the dark ages of voting procedures and bringing us in line with a majority of other American states,” said Sen. Flexer, who is Senate Chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee which helps write election law. “More voting equals better democracy, period. That’s what we’ve accomplished this evening.”

Under current Connecticut law, voters can only vote by absentee ballot if they’re going to be out of town on Election Day, sickness, if they’re on active military duty, because of a religious prohibition, or if they are poll workers who will be working all day in another town.

But 27 other U.S. states already allow for no-excuse absentee voting, including the deep Red Republican states of Arizona, Florida, Idaho, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.

On a related matter, last fall, 60% of Connecticut residents voted to amend the state constitution to allow for early voting.