Derek Slap

Sen. Slap Joins Senate Democrats in Approval of Resolution Allowing for Early Voting Constitutional Change in Connecticut

HARTFORD – State Senator Derek Slap this afternoon joined his Democratic state Senate colleagues in approving a much-needed and long-awaited resolution which – if approved by a majority of residents in November 2022 – would end Connecticut’s outdated voting laws by allowing for in-person early voting in both general elections and local referendums.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 six states in America that does not allow for early, in-person voting.

If approved by voters in 2022, the members of the state legislature in January 2023 would then be tasked with writing the early voting regulations.

“Connecticut is so far behind the rest of the nation when it comes to voting rights and granting its citizens the ability for early voting,” Sen. Slap said. “Passage of this resolutions will put the issue to the voters and allow them to have their voice be heard. I am confident they will choose to reform our voting process and strengthen our democracy. Either way, letting them decide is the right thing to do. At a time when other states are rolling back voting rights, Connecticut is going in a positive direction.”

Connecticut is in a small and shrinking group of states – along with Alabama, 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 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.