Connecticut voters have the chance next week to drastically change the course of voting laws in the state.
Question 1 will ask voters whether the General Assembly should have the authority to make changes to in-person and absentee voting laws.
The ballot language states, "Shall the Constitution of the State be amended to remove restrictions concerning absentee ballots and to permit a person to vote without appearing at a polling place on the day of an election?"
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, a Democrat who is running for reelection, said the measure could open the door to more liberal voting laws in Connecticut.
"I’m all for having as much access to voting, within reasonable limits, and making sure it’s still secure as possible," Merrill said during an interview Tuesday.
Merrill said Connecticut should look to a progressive state like Oregon for tips on ways to expand voting as a means to increase turnout.
"Oregon has mail-in voting," Merrill explained. "If you voted in the last election, they mail you a ballot, you fill it out, you mail it back. They have one of the highest voter turnouts in the country routinely about 85 percent, and the people of Oregon seem to love it.”
Politics
Not all Connecticut politicians think it's the right thing for voters to approve the ballot question.
Rep. Larry Cafero, the House Minority Leader, said he's fine with expanding absentee voting but is afraid that other voting changes could increase the likelihood for voter fraud.
“Is it feasible in this day and age, should they be able to vote outside of one day, 14 hours within one day? Absolutely," Cafero said. "We have that system. It’s called absentee balloting. So why don’t we just expand that system, have no excuses? It’s simpler that way.”
Currently, an absentee ballot can only be awarded if the person has an acceptable reason like illness or plans to be out of the country.
Merrill agreed that there are limits as to where the state could go with new voting techniques and is opposed to the notion of online balloting.
"I don’t think that’s secure but I think anything we can do to increase the accessibility of our elections is a positive," Merrill said.
Cafero said he thinks the measure will fail because there has been no publicity around the proposal.
"I bet you there are four people who know it's on the ballot," Cafero said. "It's not been talked about, it's not been advertised, it's not been promoted one way or the other."
