Election officials want you to know if you want to vote by absentee ballot in the Nov. 2 election you’re going to want to start planning now.
“You must apply for an application but you must do it early. They are available now,” Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said.
Time is of the essence, especially if you’re requesting an absentee ballot application by mail.
“They need to make sure they request an application from their town clerk or download it from the internet,” Kate Wall, president of the Connecticut Town Clerks Association, said.
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There are a handful of towns that are mailing absentee ballot applications to all qualified voters, but most towns are asking you to request an absentee ballot application.
“If you do want to vote by absentee ballot you can get an application on our website, which is myvote.Ct.Gov/absentee. Otherwise you can go right down to your town clerk locally right at your town hall and get the application,” Merrill explained.
“You must apply for an application but you must do it early. They are available now,” she added.
Local
Covid-19 is still a valid reason to request an absentee ballot, but you must write that on the application.
“This year anyone who wishes to vote absentee ballot may do so if they put in an application and check the box that says it’s because of Covid. It’s an extension of the rule we put in place for 2020,” Merrill said.
She said Covid-19 is still considered a sickness.
“When you have a pandemic globally and people fear they might be contagious or catch the virus if they go in person that we think the right to vote is so important that we need to extend that definition of sickness to include Covid,” Merrill said.
“The application can be dropped off, mailed in or use a dropbox,” Wall said.
The absentee ballot will then be mailed to voters who can mail it back or drop it in the dropbox outside their town hall.
“I’m hoping that people will realize how important these local elections are. These are people who actually set your tax rates. They organize your schools for you,” Merrill said.
