Connecticut’s election laws were the primary focus of a September 26 special legislative session, called by a proclamation from Gov. Ned Lamont. The session saw Republicans attempt to bring forward several amendments to address an absentee ballot scandal in Bridgeport and reform the use of absentee ballot drop boxes.
Lamont’s proclamation called not only for the legislature to enact legislation to move Connecticut’s presidential primary to the first Tuesday in April, but to make several other changes to election laws as well, including improving recanvassing procedures and allowing the secretary of state to retain an election monitor.
Lamont also called on the legislature to enact legislation “clarifying that a solicitation over the internet for a contribution to any committee, as defined under current campaign financing law, shall not be considered an expenditure under the law.”
Currently, candidates participating in the Citizens’ Election Program (CEP), Connecticut’s public campaign finance program, prevent participating candidates from collecting online contributions from platforms like ActBlue and WinRed. ActBlue, an online fundraising platform for left-wing candidates and WinRed, an online fundraising platform for right-wing candidates, are widely used in other states to solicit donations.
The proposal drew criticism from Republican legislators. In a press release from Senate Republicans, Sen. Kevin Kelly, R-Monroe, called the proposed measure the “height of arrogance.” Republican leaders also pointed to a developing absentee ballot scandal in Bridgeport’s Democratic primary.
“This speaks volumes about Democrats’ priorities. Rather than focus on closing the known corruption loopholes exposed by the Bridgeport video, Democrats instead want to create a new and dark money corruption loophole in our election laws. This will undermine the clean election process and the progress Connecticut has made in becoming a national model for campaign finance reform.” Kelly said via statement.
The proposed measure to amend CEP rules was not included in legislation brought before the House of Representatives during Tuesday’s special session.
During the session, Republicans focused on the ongoing absentee ballot scandal in Bridgeport, introducing several amendments intended to address it.
In the House of Representatives, Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Southington, questioned a provision in the bill that would assign $150,000 in funds previously appropriated for the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) to the secretary of the state’s office to provide an election monitor for the city of Bridgeport through the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024.
Mastrofrancesco stated that while she believed there are reports of some discrepancies in municipalities in every election, most of the complaints have to do with absentee ballots.
“My concern, Mr. Speaker, is that the absentee ballots, the way we process them, certainly the chain of custody is compromised…my concern are really with the drop boxes we have.” she stated.
Continuing, Mastrofrancesco said it was time to take action to fix the problem and introduced an amendment that would have introduced a permanent, state-wide ban of absentee ballot dropboxes. Mastrofrancesco said the amendment would begin the “process to restore the integrity of our elections and give our people trust.” She subsequently retracted the amendment.
Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Middlefield, also rose to speak about election laws. He highlighted the language “irregularities and improprieties” in the language of the bill and offered an amendment that would have instituted a one-year mandatory minimum sentence for anyone convicted of an election irregularity or impropriety.
Rep. Steven Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, rose to make a point of order to say the proposed amendment, which he said was outside the call of the special session as it did not have anything to do with changing criminal penalties. Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, agreed with Stafstrom’s point of order and outlined precedent from the chamber. The amendment was subsequently withdrawn.
Mastrofrancesco later rose again to say she had withdrawn her previous amendment because she was told it was outside the session but had revised it. The revised amendment focused on Bridgeport and would have allowed the election monitor to be hired by the secretary of state to have the authority to remove ballot boxes in Bridgeport.
Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, rose to oppose the amendment, arguing that assigning that power to election monitor unsupervised would not be well taken. He further said measures to not use certain ballot boxes already exist.
The amendment failed by a vote of 47 to 91. A vote on the larger bill, which included funding for the election monitor in Bridgeport and would move Connecticut’s presidential primary date forward, was subsequently taken. The legislation passed the chamber by a vote of 136 to 2.
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