It was a busy day in Hartford today. I testified on two bills along with many others also testifying on those and other bills before the Government Elections and Administrations Committee.
One bill was the Constitutional Amendment for early voting. I testified for the bill and against expended absentee voting, provided the bill and ballot question accurately portray the intent of no-excuse absentee voting. <read>
Another bill authorized Online Voter Registration and Election Day Registration. I testified for both in concept, yet against the particular form of Election Day Registration which is quite different than the successful EDR systems in use in other states <read>
There is an AP article which may leave misunderstanding of my testimony and positions, here is one example <read>
Luther Weeks, the executive director of both CTVotersCount.org and the Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition, spoke out against the Election Day registration proposal.
In his testimony to the committee, Weeks said the proposal does not protect the rights of voters and will lead to chaos at polling locations. He also raised concerns that people could be turned away if standing in line to register to vote when the polls close. Weeks’ coalition monitors post-election audits in Connecticut.
Like Weeks, Christopher Healy, the former Connecticut Republican Party chairman, also testified against Election Day and online voter registration. Healy argued that the two systems would lead to voter fraud because same-day registration is not verified until after votes are cast. He said online registration is only as good as the people updating the system.
For the record:
- I testified only for CTVotersCount, not the Coalition (Coalition members have a variety of positions on election laws. We all agree on the importance of post-election audits)
- I testified against the proposed from of Election Day Registration, although I support EDR in general.
- I testified for Online Voter Registration
- I testified against expanded absentee voting, but for the Constitutional Amendment, provided the Amendment and the ballot question clearly represent the purpose as providing for laws to allow expanded absentee voting.
Finally, the Secretary of the State released the final report of the Elections Performance Task Force. Once I have had a chance to review the report I will provide detailed commentary. From the Secretary’s remarks at the press conference and reading a draft report several months ago, I expect to support most if not all of the report’s recommendations. <report>
Update 3/3/2012: It seems that the AP quickly updated its article after my call last night. I appreciate their response. Our goal is also to expedite any corrections to errors in our postings brought to our attention:
Luther Weeks, the executive director of both CTVotersCount.org, spoke against the Election Day registration proposal. Weeks said the proposal does not protect the rights of voters and will lead to chaos at polling locations. He also raised concerns that people could be turned away if standing in line to register to vote when the polls close. Weeks also is executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition, which monitors postelection audits in Connecticut, but doesn’t have a consensus position on the proposal.
