On the Ballot: Early Voting

A facsimile of the November 8 ballot

Somewhat tucked away on the right side of a busy ballot, voters can decide on November 8 whether to amend the state Constitution to possibly allow early voting in future elections.

The question reads:

Currently, 45 states and the District of Columbia have provisions for early voting, but not Connecticut. A 2014 ballot measure was defeated that would have permitted early voting and removed restrictions on absentee ballots.

This year’s proposition does not address absentee ballots, although the matter will appear on the 2024 ballot if a majority in the next legislative session again votes to put the question to the people.

At the moment, an excuse is still required in Connecticut to vote absentee, although this year the state expanded the category of “Sickness” to include concern about disease such as Covid-19 present in the community, even if one’s concern is only for someone else’s health, as may be the case for caregivers. See our October 11 article for more about absentee ballots.

On the ballot

Offices on the ballot are:

Governor and Lieutenant Governor
U.S. Senator
Representative in Congress (4th District)
State Senator (26th District)
State Representative (135th District)
Secretary of the State
Treasurer
Comptroller
Attorney General
Judge of Probate (Westport-Weston District)
Registrar of Voters

Of local interest

Weston, previously split between the 26th and 28th State Senate districts, is now entirely part of the 26th. Weston is in the 135th district of the state House of Representatives.

The candidates for the 26th State Senate district — Ceci Maher (D) and Toni Boucher (R) — will be part of a debate sponsored by the Westport Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, October 18 from noon to 2:00 at the Westport Library. The debate will also be streamed.

The candidates for State Representative — incumbent Rep. Anne Hughes (D) and challenger Alex Burns (R) — will appear in a League of Women Voters debate on Saturday morning, October 15, at 10:30, on Zoom.

As for the office of Registrar of Voters, state law requires Connecticut municipalities to elect one Registrar from the Democratic party and one from the Republican party. On this year’s ballot, only Darcy Barrera-Hawes, the Democratic incumbent, appears. This is apparently due to a delay in filing nomination papers for the incumbent Republican Registrar, Tammy Roberts. As we understand it, Ms. Roberts has solved the problem by filing to be reelected as a write-in.

The election

Voting on November 8 will take place from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm at the Weston Middle School. Use the rear entrance.

You can register to vote online until November 1. Registration will still be available on Election Day at the middle school.

Sample ballot

A higher-resolution version of the facsimile ballot in the image above can be viewed and downloaded here. Some candidates appear on more than one line because they were cross-nominated by minor parties.

Correction: In the original edition of this article on October 13, we erred in two ways regarding the office of Registrar of Voters. We incorrectly stated that the office usually appears in odd-year municipal elections, which is not the case. We also incorrectly explained why only Ms. Barrera-Hawes is on the ballot this year. We regret those errors. We revised the article and noted the correction on October 14.