Saud Anwar

Sen. Anwar Joins Senate Passage of Early Voting Amendment, Expresses Disappointment in Broad Republican Opposition

HARTFORD – Despite broad and severe Republican opposition, State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor) today joined majority Democrats in the state Senate passage of a resolution that could ultimately allow for early voting in Connecticut.

House Joint Resolution 161, “Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the State Constitution to Allow for Early Voting,” passed the Senate on a largely partisan 23-13 vote. The Republican-influenced vote margin now means that, if approved by voters at statewide referendum, the issue of early voting would have to be voted on again by the next legislature to be elected in November 2020, and if approved, would not take effect until the 2023 election – more than four years from now.

“We, as policy makers, have to identify and eliminate barriers to voting. Early voting is likely to increase the opportunities to vote for a significant portion of our state’s citizens,” said Sen. Anwar. “I am disappointed that we lost an opportunity to help our citizens who have traditionally not been able to vote because of current laws.”

The House joint resolution seeks to amend sections of the state constitution to allow for early voting; that is, voting outside the normal 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. time period on Election Day.

Democrats are trying to have Connecticut join the other 40 U.S. states and the District of Columbia in offering some form of early voting to its busy state residents. Connecticut is one of only 10 states in America that doesn’t have any provision for early voting.