Jorge Cabrera

Sen. Cabrera Supports Resolution Allowing for Early Voting Constitutional Change in Connecticut

HARTFORD, CT – Today, state Senator Jorge Cabrera (D-Hamden) voted for the passage of a much-needed and long-awaited resolution which – if approved by a majority of residents in November 2022 – would end Connecticut’s outdated and burdensome voting laws by allowing for in-person early voting in both general elections and local referendums.

Currently, the state constitution sets the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the only day to vote for legislative and statewide offices; election officials have to receive and declare votes on this one day. Connecticut is one of just seven states in America that does not allow for early, in-person voting.

“The last election proved how integral it is for the health of our democracy that everyone has easy access to the ballot box,” said Sen. Cabrera. “I am proud to vote for this resolution and confident that Connecticut residents will vote to add early voting to our state’s constitution. Democracy cannot work as intended when we all do not have a fair shot to let our voice be heard, and as one of the few states in the country without early voting, it is only right that we make this correction in the general assembly and pass this popular way to cast a ballot off to the voters to decide.”

Connecticut is in a small and shrinking group of states – along with Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, New Hampshire, and South Carolina – that require all voters to

vote in person at a polling place on Election Day unless they present a specific reason why they

can’t appear. In 2016, a third of all American voters – nearly 50 million people – voted early; in

2020, that number doubled to more than 100 million, and early voting represented more than

than two-thirds of all votes cast.

Recent public polling in Connecticut shows that about 80% of Connecticut voters support in-person early voting, including 70% of Republicans, 80% of unaffiliated voters, and 85% of Democrats.

Because of a lack of Republican legislative support for in-person early voting, while this proposal did pass the legislature in 2019, it did so without a ‘supermajority’ of votes in both chambers, and so it needed to pass the Connecticut House and Senate with simple majorities this year before voters can have their say.

The resolution passed the Senate today on a 26-9 vote and now heads to Governor Ned Lamont for his consideration.