This story has been updated.
A new era of ballot access begins at 10 a.m. on March 26, the first minute of early voting in Connecticut, one of the last four states that had resisted the trend toward in-person voting ahead of Election Day.
Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas warned newly elected municipal officials Tuesday that early voting will require two rounds of all-day training for poll workers — and the state so far has allocated funding only for one.
Registrars and poll workers need to be trained on how to use the state’s online Centralized Voter Registration System that will track in real time who has voted, a check against voting more than once, Thomas said.
One wrinkle is that that state committed two years ago to updating the system, and the change-over will come in June — after the April 2 presidential primary and before state office primaries in August and the November general election.
“So yes, that’s as complicated as it sounds,” Thomas told officials attending a workshop at the state Capitol organized by the Council of Small Towns.
There is sufficient funding in the first year of the biennial budget to provide $10,500 to each municipality for training and other expenses arising from early voting, Thomas said.
But Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly included no funding for early voting in the fiscal year that begins July 1, an oversight that Thomas said she will be asking lawmakers to address as they make second-year budget revisions in the annual session that opens on Feb. 7.
“Right now there’s zero allocated from the state for the next fiscal year, which would cover the presidential election and any August primaries,” Thomas said.
Set in statute, the parameters of early voting are clear, but some of the processes are a work in progress. While Thomas is considered the state’s chief elections officer, the conduct of elections is a municipal responsibility.
[RELATED: Senate votes to bring early voting to Connecticut in 2024
“I think election workers have just the right amount of nervousness, which is good, because it means everyone is thinking through. We put together a draft handbook, for example, and sent it to the registrars,” Thomas said.
It has generated more than 60 comments and questions, mostly of the what-if nature, she said.
“Everyone knows they have to do it. So now they’re just like churning through it all. It’s constant scenario planning,” she said.
State law requires each of the state’s cities and towns to have at least one early-voting place. Communities with more than 20,000 residents have the option of multiple voting places.
There are four days of early voting for the presidential primary and special elections, seven for other primaries and 14 for general elections. The early voting generally will end on the Sunday before the election.
An exception will be made for the presidential primary this year, when Easter is the last Sunday before the election. Early voting for that contest will be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, but not on Good Friday.
Hours of early voting in the presidential primary and special elections will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For other primaries and the general election, the hours will be extended, running 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the Tuesday and Thursday before election day.
Early voting does not mean early counting. The ballots will be handled much like absentee ballots — sealed in a signed envelope and secured until Election Day.
Connecticut also is in the process of replacing the outdated tabulators now used to count the paper ballots used in every community. Thomas said the state is currently evaluating bidders and is expected to select two potential replacements in the next week or so, then seek an evaluation from registrars.
“Right now, it does not look like we’ll have them in 2024,” Thomas told the officials. “But just be aware, if that happens, that will also require additional training.”
Thomas said the variables, once a product is selected, include finalizing a contract and production schedules. Some bidders say they could equip a portion of the cities and towns in 2024, some promised full delivery and others said they could not deliver until 2025.
“So it’ll depend on who’s selected,” she said.
Thomas said she currently is weighing what legislative changes she will seek in 2024, other than second-year funding for early voting.
She hedged on whether she will seek new laws in response to the absentee voting scandal in Bridgeport, where security video appeared to capture individuals casting numerous ballots in violation of state law. Connecticut already has strict rules for who can handle absentee ballots.
[RELATED: How the battle for absentee ballots defined the Bridgeport election]
One possibility that has been floated is requiring every municipality to have video surveillance of its drop boxes.
“It’s tricky. I’m trying to balance, obviously, between security and not disenfranchising voters, but also minimizing unfunded mandates, especially in the year where right now we have early voting to roll out, which is currently an unfunded mandate,” Thomas said.
Correction
This story was updated to reflect there are seven days of early voting for primaries other than the presidential primary. An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that there are four days of early voting for other primaries and special elections.