The Connecticut House acted for the second time in a week to liberalize restrictive voting rules, approving a resolution Wednesday aimed at ending a constitutional ban on no-excuse absentee ballots.
The House voted 113 to 38 for a resolution that would place a referendum question before voters in 2024 asking if the constitution should be amended to give the General Assembly purview over absentee ballots.
All 98 Democrats and 15 of 53 Republicans voted in favor.
Last week, the House passed a bill that would allow two weeks of early in-person voting, beginning next year. Passage of the early-voting bill and absentee ballot resolution are expected in the Senate.
Currently, the constitution restricts the circumstances for voting by absentee.
“The six reasons why you can get an absentee ballot are specifically listed in the constitution,” said Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford. “We may be the only state where that’s the case, and it essentially handcuffs us from designing and executing a system of voting that works best for people of Connecticut.”
Placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot requires either approval by a 75% super majority in both the House and Senate in a single year or passage in two successive terms by simple majorities.
An identical resolution was passed by a 24-12 supermajority in the Senate and a simple 104-44 majority in the House in the 2021-2022 term, meaning that passage this year would be sufficient to get the question on the ballot in the next statewide election.
Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott, said Republicans were wary of easing absentee voting rules without stronger protections against fraud.