HARTFORD, Conn. -- At a marathon hearing over Zoom on Monday, dozens of people put in their two cents on whether Connecticut should allow early in-person voting and no-excuse absentee ballots.

Last year, the state allowed voters to claim "fear of COVID-19" as an excuse to get an absentee ballot on a temporary basis.

Rep. Matthew Blumenthal, D-Stamford, said voting should be as convenient as possible.

"Every instance in which someone who would like to vote is prevented, either by logistical difficulties or the difficulty of obtaining an absentee ballot, that is a fundamental violation of the integrity of our electoral system," Blumenthal declared.

Dominic Rapini, vice president of marketing and development for the group Fight Voter Fraud which opposes the change, questioned the legitimacy of mail-in ballots.

House Joint Resolution 58 and House Joint Resolution 59 propose to amend the state constitution to allow early voting and no-excuse mail absentee ballots.

Even if they pass the Legislature, the issues still would need to get voters' approval in 2022.

Kelly McConney Moore, interim senior policy counsel for the ACLU of Connecticut, said the current rules are onerous and depress turnout, especially for Black voters.

"Voters who are less likely to be able to get to the polls on election day, like people with little job flexibility, people lacking transportation, people lacking child care, people with disabilities, voters without identification, and voters who lack language access," Moore outlined. "They're all disproportionately likely to be people of color."

Candace Banks, Representative Town Meeting from Westport, said it's particularly hard on commuters to vote in person, on a Tuesday.

"Most commuter towns would say that you shouldn't not get your vote counted if you miss the train or if you can't take off work," Banks asserted.

Connecticut is one of seven states that does not allow early voting and one of 15 that require an excuse to get an absentee ballot.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- New congressional and legislative maps will soon start to take shape in Ohio.

The Ohio Redistricting Commission convenes for the first time this Friday, ahead of August 16, when the U.S. Census Bureau is set to release key demographic data used for redistricting.

Jeniece Brock, policy and advocacy director for the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, which is a member of the Equal Districts Coalition, said they urged the commission to hold public hearings around the state to ensure transparency.

"We aim to lift up the voices of Black, brown and immigrant Ohioans who have long been left out of the conversation; unheard, under-represented during the official redistricting process," Brock explained. "We want to make sure people's voices are heard."

The commission will draw Ohio's House and Senate maps. State lawmakers are tasked with drawing the congressional map.

Advocates have called on Gov. Mike DeWine to convene the commission for several months, and launched the Ohio Citizen's Redistricting Commission to gather public input on the map-drawing process. Ohio will lose a congressional district, dropping from 16 to 15, as the result of new census data.

The Equal Districts Coalition is wrapping up a ten-city Fair Maps Town Hall tour this week, where the topic is how gerrymandering has impacted communities. Brock pointed out to ensure people could participate during the pandemic, the events have been held online.

"Also, some people really don't have the means to travel down to Columbus to share their story," Brock acknowledged. "So, we thought we would bring this to the people, make sure that we make this process accessible and transparent."

Brock contended all Ohioans deserve a chance to weigh in on how their voting districts should be drawn.

"When we let Ohioans draw the maps, we can choose what hospitals, schools and the resources [are] funded in our neighborhood," Brock emphasized. "These maps will shape our lives, laws and policies for at least the next decade."

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Voting-rights advocates applaud this week's federal appeals-court decision to prevent Indiana from purging some voters from the rolls without notifying them first. However, they said there is more work to do to ensure everyone has access to a ballot.

Two Indiana state laws, Senate Bill 442 in 2017 and Senate Bill 334 in 2020, aimed to remove a voter's registration if it appears they'd registered in another state.

Barbara Bolling-Williams, Indiana state conference president for the NAACP, said neither held up in court, because they violated the National Voter Registration Act.

"The federal act requires that there is contact with the voter, you know, to say, 'It appears that you're registered in Ohio, is that you? Have you moved to Ohio; are you no longer going to be registered to vote here in Indiana?'" Bolling-Williams explained.

If a voter does not respond, officials need to give notice that the person is set to be removed from the rolls, and then wait two federal election periods.

Bolling-Williams pointed out other policies, like same-day registration, have increased access in other states, but Indiana's voter registration period ends 30 days before Election Day.

Legal battles around voter purges and other laws to restrict voting access, especially for historically marginalized communities, are not unique to Indiana.

As of July 14, 18 states had passed 30 laws in 2021 alone, making it harder to vote, according to the
Brennan Center for Justice. Proponents argued they are meant to prevent fraud, but Bolling-Williams countered lawmakers are not taking voters' needs into account.

"In this climate of not wanting people to vote, basically, we understand that if everybody has an opportunity to vote, then the will of the people will reign, and not the dictatorship of a few," Bolling-Williams contended.

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., and Sen Todd Young, R-Ind., were among those who blocked federal legislation, the "For the People Act," which would have prevented many of the new, more restrictive state laws from going into effect.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Redistricting reformers urged the people charged with drawing new voting-district maps in Missouri to commit to putting the voters over partisan interests.

Gov. Mike Parson has appointed a bipartisan group of commissioners to draw state legislative maps. The Legislature draws congressional maps.

Caroline Fan, founder and president of the Missouri Asian American Youth Foundation, said in the past, map-making has been done out of the public eye. She wants to see more transparency this year, and stressed one crucial piece is listening to local residents about what matters to them. It could be a common place of worship, a school district, a race or ethnicity.

"This is our opportunity as Missourians to kind of hit 'refresh,'" Fan contended. "And if certain areas have grown, other areas have shrunk, to make sure that everyone is well represented, and that we have fair maps."

Fan added map-drawing tools are far more accessible now than 10 years ago, the last time new districts were created, which means it is much easier for residents to have a say in the process, by laying out their recommendations and submitting them to the commission at public hearings.

Missouri House and Senate commissioners have six months to agree on a set of new voting district maps before a judicial panel takes over. Fan emphasized the importance of community input.

"Even these communities that might only make up 2% of the state's population, it's still really important that all of these communities are heard," Fan asserted. "And particularly because some of these communities are really growing."

Block-by-block census data crucial for redistricting is normally available by April 1 the year following the census. But this year, it was delayed due to the pandemic and efforts by the Trump administration; first to add a citizenship question to the census and then, to exclude undocumented people in determining the number of representatives each state gets.

Parson is among a group of Republican governors calling on the Census Bureau to release the data as soon as possible.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.