Voting Rights

"Rep. Stephanie Thomas got the endorsement for secretary of the state after several frantic hours of lobbying and vote-swapping at the Democratic convention in Hartford on Saturday. (...) She defeated an accomplished list of candidates including Sen. Matt Lesser of Middletown, Rep. Hilda Santiago of Meriden, Rep. Joshua Elliott of Hamden and New Haven’s Health Director Maritza Bond. (...) All three Democratic candidates for state treasurer, and four of the five candidates for secretary of the state, earned a spot on the primary ballot..."

Both bills received near-unanimous support during their public hearings, and both bills were reported favorably out of Committee more than a month ago but have not yet received a vote in either chamber.

HARTFORD, Conn — With about two weeks left in the general session, voter advocate organizations and leaders gathered outside the state Capitol on Thursday to urge lawmakers to pass a voter's rights act in Connecticut. "This bill gives Connecticut the strongest protection against voting discrimination of any state law ever," explained Steven Lance, Policy Counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Advocates explained that SB 471 could be a huge step forward, especially for communities of color.

“It will be nine long years in June since the Supreme Court gutted key provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act. In the absence of Senate action to fix the law, it’s time for the states to act instead."

Now is the time to enact a Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) bill to create a task force to study the implementation of RCV for state, federal and municipal elections in Connecticut.

"It may be hard to imagine that Putin will interfere in Connecticut’s electoral process, but it would not be illegal because neither federal nor state election law bars foreign entities from contributing unlimited amounts of funds to influence the outcome of a state ballot referendum. All Connecticut residents, whether Democrats, Republicans, or unaffiliated voters, should be concerned. Fortunately, the General Assembly still has an opportunity to close this glaring loophole before the session ends May 4 by passing Senate Bill 431..."