Legislature2011

Clerks: No-Excuse Absentee Voting Creates Problems

The opinion piece hits all of the bases, articulating the costs, the increased opportunity for fraud, increased disenfranchisement, and that it will not increase turnout.

Public hearings for 15 election related bills – Update: Our Testimony

Today we provided testimony on ten bills. We talked six times and complemented the Committee on their new format of handling bills one at a time, allowing each person who wanted to the opportunity to testify on each bill separately. It worked very well and did not take as much time as one would expect over the old format of one opportunity per person for the day. Most of the testimony today was agreement or friendly disagreement between registrars, town clerks, state officials, and advocates. In the end we expect that better laws will result.

HB 5732: Bill would eliminate the secret ballot at each voter’s option

The secret vote was implemented in the United States to prevent the selling and coercion of votes. Subjecting the secret ballot to each voter’s choice would negate its purpose and value. Each voter’s vote being secret, preserves the the value everyone’s vote, because my vote’s value depends on yours not being sold or coerced.

SB 804: Bill would wipe out post-election audits 7 years in 10

From an audit and election integrity standpoint, this law is even worse than the one we discussed yesterday. Instead of giving small municipalities an exemption for four years, this one would exempt all municipalities for about seven years in ten!

Merrill pushes for authority over election ballot supply

This seems like a very workable and reasonable proposal. Much more realistic and less wasteful than blindly printing 100% every time. We hope that this is not the only reform considered in the light of the problems in Bridgeport. The Audit Coalition has several recommendations in the hands of the Secretary of the State and the Government Administration and Elections Committee.The Audit Coalition has several recommendations in the hands of the Secretary of the State and the Government Administration and Elections Committee.

HB 5727: Bill to add new audit exemption, shift burden to large towns, and exempt officials from fines

Exempting any towns and any ballots from the post-election audit would be at the expense of election integrity, defeating the purpose of a random audit. It would be a unique, bad precedent if taxpayers foot the bill for officials’ fines levied for improperly conducting their duties.

Lawmakers Seek To Change Presidential Elections [To make them more risky, reduce confidence]

What often appears simple is not. The Compact being proposed would get around the requirement for a constitutional amendment. It would cobble the popular vote onto a system designed for the Electoral College. Such a system has largely unanticipated, but predictable consequences that are overlooked and glossed over by national organizations supporting the proposition – similar to the situations when we focus on the national debt one week and lowering taxes the next.

Voter ID: Good Idea? or Bad Idea? and Costly

“little evidence of actual voter fraud, and plenty to suggest that the laws will end up costing states millions of dollars that they don’t have…But criticism of the Voter ID bills often falls starkly along party lines. While Republicans say that they’re necessary to combat growing fraud, there’s little to suggest rampant fraud is actually taking place. Meanwhile, Democrats argue that there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that it’s the elderly, African American, and Latino voters who are most likely to vote without the types of identification that’s being required in the new legislation.”

No-Excuse for Mail-In Voting and three “interesting” bills

Today we sent the following email to nine legislators proposing a total of six bills this year in Connecticut for no-excuse absentee voting. Some of the bills state the purpose of increasing voter participation. The facts don’t seem to support the claim of increased participation.