Last week, the House passed legislation to help make sure our 2026 elections are fair and encourage more higher voter turnout (HB5001: An Act Concerning Absentee Voting For All).

This bill, which now goes to the Senate for consideration, specifically takes steps to:

• Modernize our absentee ballot laws and vote counting procedures
• Create more safeguards to ensure your vote counts
• Protect our elections from corrupt outside forces

MAKING IT EASIER TO VOTE 

A key component of the legislation is based on voters overwhelmingly approving a constitutional amendment in 2024 to expand the use of absentee ballots. This includes: 

• Allowing people to request an absentee ballot application to be automatically sent to them for each election
• Expanding where town-supervised voting by absentee ballot takes place (currently it is only in nursing homes and hospice)
• Letting anyone who will be 18 by Election Day vote early or by absentee ballot

“For far too long in our state, our laws have been far too restrictive,” said Rep. Matt Blumenthal, House chair of the Elections Committee. “In fact, they’ve been some of the most restrictive in the country.”

PROTECTING OUR DEMOCRACY

People’s right to vote is under constant attack around the country, but here in Connecticut, we’re making sure elections are fair and transparent by:

• Increasing penalties for tampering with vote counts and intimidating poll workers
• Expanding election audits that are independently verified by UConn to ensure the accuracy of our vote counters
• Empowering our Attorney General to prevent people from interfering with our elections

You can read more about legislation expanding absentee voting options and protecting the integrity of our elections in this article from CT Mirror.