Paul Bass file photo
Waiting to register on Election Day 2018.
The State Senate Tuesday overwhelmingly approved bills designed to expand access to absentee voting this November, and to expand access to telehealth medical services through next spring.
The state legislature’s upper chamber took those votes Tuesday afternoon during its one-day special summer session.
At around 3:45 p.m., senators voted 35 – 1 in support of House Bill 6002: An Act Concerning Absentee Voting and Reporting of Results at the 2020 State Election and Election Day Registration.
That vote came roughly 15 minutes after the senators voted 35 – 0 with one abstention in support of House Bill 6001: An Act Concerning Telehealth.
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The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved both bills during the lower chamber’s special session last week. The two bills now advance to Gov. Ned Lamont’s office for a final signature and adoption.
The bills are two of four the state Senate is slated to take up for debate and a vote on Tuesday. The remaining two bills, scheduled to be discussed Tuesday late afternoon and evening, pertain to insulin cost caps and police accountability.
Tuesday’s special session was held in person at the state Capitol in Hartford, and was broadcast live on CT‑N.
The election bill essentially implements no-excuse absentee voting for the November 2020 general election. Click here for a summary of the bill.
It adds a sixth valid reason that Connecticut voters can cite when requesting an absentee ballot. That reason is “the Covid-19 sickness.”
Westport Democrat State Sen. Will Haskell explained Tuesday that the addition of this reason allows someone to request an absentee ballot if they are afraid that going to the polling place may put them at risk of contracting Covid-19.
Current state statute requires someone requesting an absentee ballot to cite “his or her illness” as an excuse for voting remotely. Now, that person does not have to be sick — but can simply cite a fear of potentially becoming sick due to the pandemic.
“The overwhelming majority of Connecticut voters want to be able to exercise the right to vote this year without fear for their health and their safety,” said Government Administration and Elections (GAE) Committee Senate Chair and Democrat Mae Flexer (pictured).
In addition to the no-excuse absentee ballot provision for the November 2020 election, the passed bill also allows local registrars of voters to apply to the Secretary of the State’s office to designate more than one Election Day Registration (EDR) location in their municipality.
Previously, towns and cities throughout Connecticut could have only one EDR spot for same-day registration and voting on Election Day.
In addition to allowing for multiple EDR sites, the bill ensures that anyone who is in line to register to vote by 8 p.m. on Election Day shall be allowed to vote, even if their registration has not yet been processed.
In recent elections, particularly during even-numbered years with Congressional and presidential contests, New Haven’s EDR spot at City Hall has been swamped with primarily Yale students looking to register last minute in order to cast their votes in New Haven. Previously, if they had not completed their registration by 8 p.m. on Election Day, they were not allowed to vote.
GAE Committee Ranking Member and Republican Sen. Rob Sampson (pictured) slammed the House and Democrat legislators for pushing through a bill that the Senate could not amend Tuesday because the House had already adjourned.
Senators could vote only up or down on the bill approved by the House. If they voted to amend it, the bill would essentially die, because the House is out of session.
“By adjourning the House, anything passed in the Senate has no place to go. My understanding is that the House would have to start all over again” with a new session, he said.
Click here to read about the local registrars of voters’ efforts to make polling places safe to visit for the Aug. 11 presidential primaries. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, per Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive order, sent out absentee ballot applications to all Connecticut residents for the primary, allowing for anyone to vote remotely during the primary.
The telehealth bill, meanwhile, requires insurance companies to cover remote healthcare services at the same rates that they do in-person healthcare services through March 15. The goal of that bill is to minimize patients’ risks of contracting Covid-19 by limiting the need to travel in-person to a doctor’s office, and also to encourage patients to proactively stay in touch with their healthcare providers even as they are homebound during the pandemic. Click here for more on that bill.