Submitted by State Rep. Christine Palm.
CHESTER – State Representative Christine Palm has been asked to serve on a small working group tasked with crafting statutory language to expand the reasons voters may use absentee ballots in the General Election on Nov. 3, 2020. The new bill will be voted on in Special Session, which begins July 23.
Rep. Palm was appointed to the working group by Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz.
Working with the offices of the Governor and the Secretary of the State, as well as with State Rep. Dan Fox, House Chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee (which has cognizance over election matters), Palm offered two significant changes to the current statute.
First, she wants the new legislation to reflect the science-backed concerns over the spread of COVID-19 during this public health emergency; current statutory language specifies actual illness, rather than fear of contracting or spreading an illness.
“Our right to vote is foundational to democracy, and we can’t let the coronavirus put our civic health at risk along with our physical health,” Palm said. “No one in Connecticut should have to choose between safety and voting. I’ve heard from many constituents who are gravely concerned about having to make that choice, and it’s the General Assembly’s job to make sure people can vote safely, legally, and with confidence.”
Second, Palm has advocated for changing the legislation to be more inclusive of people whose gender identity is not strictly “male” or “female.” Current law says “his or her” before each of the provisions by which someone may legally use an absentee ballot, e.g. military service. Palm is advocating for legislation that employs the gender-neutral noun “voter” or “elector.”
The General Assembly is responsible for changes to voting statutes. Connecticut’s voting provisions are written into the state Constitution, and are implemented by statute. As it stands, the statutory language is more limited than that of the Constitution, and Palm believes changing the state statute (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 9-135) so that it aligns more with the Constitutional intent, will legally broaden voting by absentee ballot.
“It’s important to remember that while the Secretary of the State has taken care of the August primary under the current Executive Order by mailing absentee ballot applications to all eligible Connecticut voters (those registered with one of the two major parties) she cannot legally do that for the Presidential election in November, because Gov. Lamont’s emergency powers run out on September 9. Therefore, a legislative remedy is needed.”
Palm says the need to update the statute stems from the fact that Connecticut has one of the most restrictive voting processes among all 50 states. Forty-one states have some form of early voting or no-excuse mail-in voting, or both.
“All public policy must reflect the needs of the times,” Palm said. “Our Connecticut Constitution dates to 1639 (hence our nickname ‘The Constitution State’) and our most recent constitutional convention was held in 1965. So clearly, the pandemic is not reflected. In this sense, I’m an adherent of the “living Constitution” theory rather than that of the Originalists, because I believe the intent should prevail over a strict interpretation of words that don’t reflect the urgency of the current situation.”
Speaker Aresimowicz chose Palm to help draft the legislation because, “she has shown real leadership on this issue, starting with a letter she wrote back in May with her colleague Rep. Matt Blumenthal, urging us to call for a special session to deal with this critical issue.”
