A proposal from Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration to alter the appearance of Connecticut’s Drive-Only (DO) licenses for undocumented individuals sparked a debate on the potential use of the new licenses for voter fraud in Connecticut during a Transportation Committee public hearing.
Although 19 states offer Drive Only licenses for undocumented immigrants, Connecticut is one of only two states that make the license visibly different from a standard driver’s license. Drive Only licenses issued in Connecticut and Delaware are currently invalid in Florida because the license indicates the holder is not lawfully in the United States, and the holder can be arrested in states that have implemented similar laws.
“As some states work to target undocumented people, this distinction has unintentionally made Connecticut residents with varying immigration statuses vulnerable in hostile states,” a 2024 Fact Sheet from the Lamont administration said.
Lamont’s solution involves eliminating the differentiating characteristics of a drive-only license, making them “physically indistinguishable from another non-REAL ID.”
However, the proposed change sparked a debate in the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee with Republicans questioning whether the updated DO licenses could be used by undocumented people to vote.
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Commissioner Tony Guerrera, who testified in support of the change, said that the new DO license is only a “driving credential,” will look just like a regular driver’s license, and allows undocumented individuals to complete the state’s driving requirements and get insurance.
“When you mark a license to say that someone is undocumented, already that person is behind the 8-ball, whether they get pulled over, looked at differently, whatever it is,” Guerrera said. “We are better than that.”
“What’s sad to me is that because I may come from a different country under circumstances that no one has walked in my shoes and then to categorize me with a DNO is unfair,” Guerrera said. “Nineteen states have gone away from that. We are better than that, we need to move with the times.”
However, Rep. Tom O’Dea, R-New Canaan, and Rep. Jason Perillo, R-Shelton, pushed back, arguing that the change will make it easier for the DO licenses to be used for voting.
O’Dea said part of the 2013 compromise that established Connecticut’s DO license program so undocumented people could get insurance was that the license could not be used for voting or federal identification. O’Dea acknowledged that licenses are not required to vote but argued that making the DO license identical to standard driver licenses would make voter fraud easier.
“We shouldn’t be enabling voter fraud by making it easier to vote with this,” O’Dea said. “I guarantee you, if the bill comes like this to the floor, it will be days of debate, because we need to have faith in our voting system, we need to know that my vote matters and it’s not going to be canceled out by someone who’s not supposed to be voting.”
“I’m very angry that we spent hours, dozens of hours, debating this, and part of the agreement was it can’t be used for voting and now we’re taking that off,” O’Dea said, referring to the original 2013 debate over DO licenses. “I’m outraged at that idea.”
Rep. Jason Perillo, R-Shelton, testified in opposition to the bill on behalf of House Republicans, saying there was a good reason for the original DO bill in 2013, but there was also a “legitimate concern” over how the licenses could be used, necessitating the distinguishing features on the DO license.
“Remember, the original intent here was to ensure that the licenses looked different so that individuals couldn’t easily vote using a driving only license,” Perillo said. “It has worked, generally speaking, yet here we are eliminating that differentiation.”
Transportation Committee co-chair Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, argued that multiple levels of fraud would have to be committed before an undocumented individual was able to use a DO license to vote and that being asked for a driver’s license to vote is not appropriate. Lemar said the debate was becoming more about voter ID than appropriate driver credentialing.
“A number of frauds would have had to take place before that moment,” Lemar said, indicating that the individual would have to be on the voter roll and could produce several documents other than a license to vote. “If you wanted to commit fraud, there are numerous easier ways to do so other than going through this process.”
“Just because there are other ways to commit the crime doesn’t mean we can create another. That’s not what we’re all about,” Perillo said. “We’re about taking opportunities to do bad things away from those who intend to bad things, not to make it easier.”
In his written testimony, Perillo appeared to reference the alleged absentee ballot fraud in the Bridgeport mayoral race as evidence of “the extent to which people will go to commit election fraud.”
Lemar said the change is to prevent Connecticut residents from being arrested “on the spot” in other states if they present a DO license. “Right now, the State of Connecticut is officially credentialing and giving someone a piece of documentation that will be utilized against them in another state.”
O’Dea also questioned Guerrera about a 2019 report from NBC Connecticut that found a DMV memo indicating that potentially thousands of undocumented immigrants may have used false addresses to get DO licenses.
The DMV later revoked 87 of those licenses pending a $175 fee following an investigation. Guerrera said it was more a matter of driving schools pressuring undocumented individuals to use their schools or be reported for their immigration status. O’Dea also argued that there has been no study showing that DO licenses decreased the number of uninsured drivers.
“I want it to work. I want people that are undocumented, here illegally, to have a DO license, I don’t want them to be able to obtain it fraudulently and I don’t want them to be able to use it for voting,” O’Dea said. “And those two things I’m adamant about and I want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“We are all very proud that we enacted one of the first in our country licenses that ensured that every member of our community who met the credentials necessary to drive on our roads was given that opportunity, to purchase insurance, it made everyone safer. It made insurance rates go down,” Lemar said. “I think it was a bold statement we made at that point in time, but clearly it is in need of some reform. I don’t think anyone envisioned it being operationalized against those very same members of our Connecticut community.”
“No one in this room wants to make it easier to commit voter ID fraud,” Lemar said. “I would suggest this doesn’t make it easier to commit vote ID fraud.”
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Why do we keep making allowances for people who arent here legally. Our government continually lessens requirements and rarely holds individuals accountable when they do abuse the accommodations provided to them. Most of the cost falling on the few hard working legal individuals to pay for on top of trying to provide for their own families
Why are the CT Democrats trying so hard to help people break laws in other states?? If the license you have is not valid in Florida, then DON’T drive in Florida! It’s pretty simple. It’s also pretty obvious that this non-issue ‘issue’ raised by the Democrats has nothing to do with offending those in this country illegally, and everything to do with making it harder to detect and prevent potential voter fraud BEFORE a fraudulent vote is cast, not after a fraudulent vote has been cast and counted.
Outstanding points! I believe it’s all about the votes for Democrats.
Why should Connecticut be concerned with how other states operate?
The State of Connecticut is facilitating lawbreakers (illegal immigrant invaders in our country) to obtain a driver’s license (whatever color or format) currently. We have laws that don’t permit employers to hire illegals, but the government is not enforcing that law. Government bureaucrats are handing out our taxpayer money to house, feed, clothe, and provide medical benefits to people who broke the law to get into this country. STOP THIS INSANITY! DEPORT THEM and that ends the question about drivers licenses and fraudulent voting by illegal immigrant invaders.
This is all about voting. The democratic conspiracy is to get as many illegals integrated and voting for the party that gave them all the freebies that not even our own lawfully abiding citizens receive. Also, look up the article on how illegals in VT can now serve in public office.