Government Administration and Elections Committee News
Last Friday was the deadline for voting bills out of committee, so we are completing the second phase of the Legislative Session; soon, we will be voting on bills before the full House (or Senate). As I have done with the two other bill-raising committees on which I sit (Environment and Judiciary), I am listing a few of the more significant bills on which I have voted “yes” to raise out of the Government Administration & Elections (GAE) Committee. Again, this is a sampling; click HERE for a full list and click on the specific bill number to read the full bill language. (And be looking for one more report out of the Judiciary Committee, which is finishing its bill-raising process later today.)
The two key bills raised concerning expanding voting rights are House Joint Resolutions:
| HJ 58 RESOLUTION PROPOSING A STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO ALLOW NO-EXCUSE ABSENTEE VOTING.
Because our voting laws are written into the State Constitution, (and enabled by Statute), we need a constitutional amendment to create a system of unconditional absentee ballots. We saw the importance of absentee voting during the pandemic; this would make permanent that ease of voting.
As with the above, this question would go directly to the voting public in the form of a referendum -- in this case, to allow early voting, a practice common in many other states.
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| SB 5 AN ACT CONCERNING INCREASED OPPORTUNITIES FOR ABSENTEE VOTING, SAFE AND SECURE IN-PERSON VOTING AND VOTER REGISTRATION.
Among other things, this bill would designate Election Day as a legal holiday, allow online voting registration through the Department of Motor Vehicles, create an online application for an absentee ballot that would be accessed via the Secretary of the State's website, prohibit firearms within 200 feet of a polling place (except for uniformed officers), expand voting access for persons with disabilities, and restore voting rights to persons with felonies who have served their time.
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| SB 138 AN ACT CONCERNING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS.
This bill would nullify the vote of, remove and replace any faithless presidential elector. “Faithless electors” are those who change their votes and vote differently from the way they promised to do.
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In recognition that there are benefits to civic engagement by holding meetings via “Zoom” (or remotely) this bill would permit public agencies to conduct remote meetings under the Freedom of Information Act.
In recognition that parents or caretakers of young children often have a difficult time running for office, this bill would allow the public financing of campaigns to include legitimate childcare costs (providing one does not pay a family member).
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| SB 353 AN ACT CONCERNING MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.
This legislation would require each municipality to hold its biennial municipal election in November, unless a two-thirds vote of that town’s legislative body decides that such election shall be held in May.
In recognition that some citizens do not identify as one of a binary gender, this would update state agency forms, applications and methods of identification to be updated with a nonbinary gender option.
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| SB 753 AN ACT CONCERNING THE COUNTING OF INCARCERATED PERSONS FOR PURPOSES OF DETERMINING LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS.
This bill would prohibit the practice of counting incarcerated persons (who generally cannot vote in an election) as part of the district where the prison is located, rather than where they actually lived before becoming incarcerated. It would adjust population data to be a more accurate reflection of their residency.
This bill simply recognizes that as we are not yet out of the pandemic, some municipal elections should be held with the same safety provisions as was the General Election of last year.
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