HARTFORD, Conn. — With polls for the Presidential Primary in Connecticut opening in a few hours, state Republicans are sounding the alarm on election security.
“We're here because we are concerned about the integrity of our elections, period,” said state Sen. Rob Sampson, ranking member on the Government Administration & Elections (GAE) Committee.
Republican legislators said majority Democrats have not done enough to increase election security, especially in wake of allegations of voter fraud in Bridgeport last September.
They are reintroducing five measures that they say would tackle voter fraud at the source.
“The Democrats that we serve with here in Hartford have failed to take the issue seriously enough and put the proper protocols and policies in place to fix it,” Sampson said.
Republicans want to update voter rolls, prohibit unsolicited mailing of absentee ballot applications, impose a one-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for election-related crimes, require a driver’s license or photo ID copy in absentee ballots, and put a temporary ban on ballot drop boxes.
“We've constantly heard that there was no voter fraud going on in Connecticut,” said the other ranking member on GAE, state Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco. “Well, obviously, as we've seen in Bridgeport, it does happen.”
Republican legislators point to Bridgeport as the most recent example of why these reforms are needed, but Democrats said they are addressing these concerns.
“We’ve passed out of committee two very serious and robust bills to address electoral reform, especially in relation to the issues we saw this past fall in Bridgeport,” explained state Rep. Matt Blumenthal, co-chair of the GAE Committee.
Blumenthal is talking about measures which would install video surveillance at all ballot drop boxes, better keep track of absentee ballots, limit the number of absentee ballot applications that can be circulated, and would mandate the state elections enforcement commission to refer any criminal case to the chief state's attorney within 90 days.
“Expeditious investigation and prosecution of any potential elections crimes is vital, not only to transparency and accountability, but to adequate deterrence of potential wrongdoers, and the public's trust that the state takes elections enforcement seriously,” Blumenthal said.
In a statement, his other co-chair state Sen. Mae Flexer said, “Long before 2023, Connecticut Republicans have consistently proposed measure after measure that would make it harder for people to vote. Now, instead of having thoughtful conversations about how to make our elections better and having a meaningful dialogue about what has happened in Bridgeport, they insist on using the situation there as an excuse to try and disenfranchise Connecticut voters by taking away ballot boxes and absentee ballots — voting options that are already offered in most American states and which allow more voters to participate in our democracy."
Flexer continued, "Meanwhile, we have a number of good, bipartisan, election-reform bills that were voted out of the GAE Committee. These measures actually look at the details and structure of our election system and make meaningful changes to stop those bad actors who do disenfranchise some voters, without disenfranchising all 2.1 million Connecticut voters.”
The GAE Committee advanced the Republican bill requiring a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison for election crimes, but since the deadline for new bills has passed, Republicans said they will be introducing the other ideas as amendments to the current election security bill once it is taken up on the floor.
Emma Wulfhorst is a political reporter for FOX61 News. She can be reached at ewulfhorst@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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