John-Michael Parker

This morning I had the honor of saying the Pledge of Allegiance to open what turned out to be an incredibly important day in the Connecticut House of Representatives.

Strengthening our democracy by expanding voter access has been a main concern I’ve heard from voters over the past few years. When COVID-19 caused so many folks to stay home from the polls in 2020 we were able to benefit from vastly expanded absentee voting—but only because of a temporary executive order. And so, headed into the 2021 session, I knew this would be one of the most important issues we’d take up.

Today I was proud to vote with both Democrats and Republicans in support of a resolution that would make no-excuse absentee voting permanent—but, there’s still a long road ahead. Amending the state constitution is a complicated process (rightly so), and there will be another legislative vote in 2023… and then voters across the state will get to make the final decision at the ballot box the following year. We also recently moved forward a resolution on early voting—another critical element of expanding voter access—which will hopefully come before voters next year. It’s slow, but we’re making progress.

Today we took an important step forward in realizing the promise of that Pledge—liberty and justice for *all*—and I’m so grateful for the chance to be a part of this history.