November Election Q: Should CT Vote Early?

New Haveners will have the chance to vote this second Tuesday of November about whether or not they should be able to vote in future elections before the second Tuesday of November.

That early voting question will be on the ballot this Nov. 8 for all Connecticut voters.

At Thursday night’s latest meeting of the Board of Alders City Services and Environmental Policy (CSEP) committee meeting, Aaron Goode of the Connecticut League of Women Voters urged alders, city officials, and anyone else listening to raise awareness about the coming statewide ballot referendum. 

“It’s really important that we get out the word,” Goode told alders. ​“Our voters deserve to have the opportunity to know about this in advance and have their voices heard.”

So. What question will be on the ballot? And what does it mean?

In addition to seeing the names of candidates for federal and statewide office on Nov. 8’s general election ballot, New Haven and Connecticut voters more broadly will also see the following question:

“Shall the Constitution of the State be amended to permit the General Assembly to provide for early voting?”

A ​“yes” vote to that question would permit the state legislature to develop rules around how Connecticut voters would be able to cast their ballots in person at designated polling places before the actual day of a general election. 

A ​“no” vote would mean that Connecticut would remain one of only four states in the country not to allow voters to cast their votes early in person.

According to materials that the League of Women Voters provided at the committee meeting, when Connecticut voters were given the option to vote early by mail in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, turnout was almost 80 percent. (Early voting is different from voting by absentee ballot because the former allows eligible voters to vote in person at a polling place before election day without the need to cite any excuse. Click here to read more about the difference between the two.)

The League of Women Voters also pointed out that early voting could accommodate long-distance commuters, people who may lose wages if they miss work to vote, and elderly or sick voters. It would also help cut lines on election day. They cited a 2016 Gallup poll which found that 80 percent of all voters and almost equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans favor early voting.

According to Goode, confusion about how to vote on the referendum may keep it from passing, despite widespread support for early voting. 

“The last time we had a referendum on the ballot was in 2014,” he said. ​“There were 8,000 people who left it blank that voted in other races and that was almost the total margin statewide by which it failed.” 

He said that an effort by the committee and the full Board of Alders, as well as other city and state officials, would be necessary to help citizens know how to vote on this referendum. A sample ballot from the League of Women Voters shows the referendum in a small box on the right side of an already confusing page.

In a written response to a series of election-focused questions provided to the CSEP committee on Thursday, New Haven Democratic Registrar of Voters Shannel Evans described the early voting ballot question in this way:

“Connecticut Question 1, the Allow for Early Voting Amendment, is on the ballot in Connecticut as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022. A ​‘yes’ vote supports amending the state constitution to authorize the state legislature to provide by law for in-person early voting before an election. A ​‘no’ vote opposes amending the state constitution, thereby maintaining that early voting is not authorized in the state.”