The Connecticut House of Representatives has approved a resolution to amend the State’s Constitution to allow for a system of early voting. The resolution passed on Thursday by a vote of 81-65 today.
House Majority Leader Matthew Ritter, a Hartford Democrat, says the amendment would make voting a possibility for his constituents who now miss out on voting because they have two jobs and under current law do not qualify for an absentee ballot.
“That man or woman who works two jobs in Hartford, if they voted by absentee ballot, it is illegal and it is fraudulent. Are you kidding me? America makes it hard – and our state, we make it unconstitutional – to work two jobs in the city you're living in and vote by absentee ballot. Please someone challenge that.”
The amendment allows for at least two, and no more than five, days of early voting before an election. Voters would only be allowed to cast their ballots in the towns in which they live.
Passage of the resolution in the House is just the first major step required in a multi-year process to amend the State’s Constitution.
The resolution now goes to the Senate. If it is approved there, it will come back for a vote in both chambers next year. And if it passes again, it would be placed as a ballot question in November 2020.
