ELECTION LAW INITIATIVES
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ELECTION LAW INITIATIVES 2005 Since its founding, the League of Women Voters of Connecticut (the “League”) has advocated for expansion and improvement of opportunities for citizens to participate in the political process. The League has supported expanded opportunities for voter registration, measures to insure accurate, up-to-date registration and voting lists, reliability of voting machines, high standards in the certification and training of moderators and other election workers, and improved supervision and enforcement of laws governing the uniform conduct of elections. On behalf of the more than 2,500 state wide members, we would like to put our organization on record regarding the policies, priorities and possible options that we can support and will be advocating for during the next legislative session. The League believes in the right of citizens to vote and to do so effectively and knowledgeably. To achieve these aims, we support: 1. Secure, accurate, accessible and easy-to-use electronic voting using equipment that voters can trust. The Secretary of the State should provide a “recommended” list of vendors to local communities and a reasonable time line for converting from the old mechanical lever voting machines to new electronic voting machines. The State should help local communities pay for the conversion. 2. Election day registration. The League supported a bill that passed in 2003, but was vetoed by then Governor Rowland. We believe the bill should be resubmitted and acted on this session and will advocate actively for its passage. 3. Mandatory voter registration sessions at all naturalization ceremonies. The Secretary of the State should be required by law to provide voter registration sessions in connection with all naturalization ceremonies held in the state. The law should permit the Secretary of the State to delegate this responsibility to another organization, provided that the Secretary of the State maintains overall responsibility for seeing that the mandate is carried out. Funding for such voter registration sessions should be included in the Secretary of the State’s budget. 4. A requirement that the Department of Motor Vehicles provide each applicant who seeks to register to vote through the “motor voter program” with appropriate assistance. The Department of Motor Vehicles should be required to provide each applicant seeking to register to vote with the same degree of assistance as it provides with regard to completion of its own forms. There should be a clearly identified location for the forms and a designated individual whose responsibility it would be to provide the applicant with the receipt and forward the forms to the Secretary of the State’s office. 5. Annual certification by registrars of voters in each town that a voter registration session has been held in public schools in compliance with Connecticut General Statute Section 9-17(c). This provision should dovetail with “An Act Establishing An Official State-Wide Student Voter Registration Drive” which was passed in 2003. 6. Improved training of registrars and poll workers. The League supports appropriating more funds to improve training of registrars and poll workers in election laws’ implementation and mandating that a specific portion of the HAVA funds be earmarked for training registrars and poll workers in electronic machine usage. 7. Expansion of the provisional ballot to include state offices. The laws regarding provisional ballots are confusing and should be clarified by the Secretary of the State. In addition, provisional ballots should be expanded to include all state offices, with local offices added at a later time. Potential sources of funding for these options include: 1. The Federal Government under the Help America Vote Act. The State has received $32.7 million from the federal government under HAVA. Of this sum, $5 million will be used to purchase 769 electronic voting machines (one for each polling place) by January 1, 2006, $20 million will go toward the purchase additional electronic voting machines and the remaining funds will be used for training and public awareness. The State should lobby aggressively for full funding by the federal government of its obligations under HAVA. 2. State funds. Converting to electronic voting machines will strain local budgets. The State should fund any shortfall in federal funds through the Secretary of the State’s budget. We realize that budgets continue to be tight but believe that democratic government depends upon the informed and active participation of its citizens and protecting their right to do so effectively must be a priority. 3. Secretary of the State’s Budget. The Secretary of the State’s budget should be increased to fund voter registration sessions at naturalization ceremonies and improved training of registrars and poll workers in election laws’ implementation. Training in the usage of electronic voting machines should be funded through HAVA. We appreciate the opportunity to provide this input and look forward to the opportunity to work with you to implement these initiatives.
Jara N. Burnett, Vice President of Public Issues, 203 637-9244 Christine S. Horrigan, Election Laws Specialist, 860 567-3268 |
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