Early Voting Debut in Connecticut is Weeks Away; Additional Funding Sought

The League of Women Voters of Connecticut is calling on Governor Lamont to ensure that sufficient funds are in place so that Connecticut’s first experience with early voting, due to begin just weeks from now, is successful.

“We know Governor Lamont shares our commitment to making Early Voting successful in Connecticut.  The process needs to be funded to allow for that success.  We, along with our Early Voting Coalition Colleagues, plead with Governor Lamont to do what is right and adjust the budget to fully fund Early Voting now,” said Patricia Rossi, Co-President, and Ann Reed, Vice President, Advocacy.

For the first time in elections administration history, Connecticut voters will have the opportunity to participate in early voting for the Presidential Preference Primary, which is when political parties go to the polls to nominate their candidate for president. Early voting allows voters to vote in-person for a set period of time ahead of an election, according to the Secretary of the State’s Office.

While the Presidential Preference Primary will be on Tuesday, April 2, eligible voters are able to vote at specific early voting locations in their towns 10 AM – 6 PM for four days, which are March 26, 27, 28 and 30th.

Since passage of the law permitting early voting last year, the Office of the Secretary of the State has been working closely with locally elected officials on the implementation of this new way of voting. With no previous experience in the state or similar program in other states to serve as a guide, all stakeholders have worked closely together in charting out this new election frontier, the Secretary of the State’s Office pointed out.

“I want to commend our Registrars of Voters and Town Clerks who have been working diligently and quickly with limited resources to implement this new style of voting,” said Secretary  Stephanie Thomas. “They are the true heroes of this effort, and my office is doing everything it can to support all 169 towns.”

Ballots cast during Early Voting will be sealed and stored securely in each town. They will be opened and counted on Election Day, April 2.  Each town or city will have at least one Early Voting location. If the population is 20,000 or more, the local legislative body determines whether to have additional locations. Municipal websites will list Early Voting locations, as will MyVote.CT.gov.

Connecticut was one of only four states in the nation to not allow for early voting until it was passed as a constitutional amendment with over 60 percent of the vote in the 2022 election, passed with bipartisan support by the Connecticut General Assembly in last year’s legislative session, and then signed as Public Act 23-5 by Governor Lamont.

Connecticut will have Early Voting for the August 13 primary elections from August 5 to 11 and the November 5 general election from October 21 – 31 and November 1-3.