Last fall, Connecticut voters were able to cast their ballots in the presidential race early, thanks to a state constitutional amendment passed by referendum in 2022. For 14 days leading up to Election Day, Nov. 5, in-person voting was available in at least one place in every Connecticut community.
But many of those communities say providing that service to residents in their towns and cities wasn’t cheap. This year, they’re asking the legislature to allocate more funding to support early voting in the years to come.
On Friday, the legislature’s Appropriations Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 17, which lays out the request. While the proposal doesn’t specify an exact figure, language in the bill calls for the state to “make municipalities whole for the increased cost of administering early voting.”
Betsy Gara, executive director of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns, said in written testimony that the state originally gave each municipality $10,500 to cover the costs of early voting, but later reduced that amount.
“This funding failed to fully reimburse municipalities for the actual costs of implementing early voting,” Gara wrote. She pointed specifically to staffing, which can be both costly and challenging, she said. “In small towns, election workers and registrars of voters work on a part-time basis and often have other jobs leaving them unavailable to staff polling locations.”
The bill was introduced by Sen. Jeff Gordon R-Woodstock. In an interview with the Connecticut Mirror, Gordon said he’d been concerned from the beginning about how towns would accommodate what he called an “unfunded mandate.” He said he’d heard these concerns echoed time and again across the 13 towns in his voting district.
“It was going to be a big burden for the 169 towns in the state” Gordon said, adding, “We all recognize that this is something we need to do.”
At Friday’s hearing, several individuals gave testimony supporting the bill.
Lisa Amatruda, Republican registrar for Woodbury, said, “The costs for early voting are especially hard on small towns.” The 2024 elections cost Woodbury roughly $37,000, she said, adding that could hamper the town’s ability to sustain the service.
Barbara Richardson Crouch, the registrar of voters in Sprague, shared her concerns. While in favor of early voting, she said the cost for her town “was astronomical.”
“We want to make early voting as sustainable as possible” Richardson Crouch added. “Our elections system cannot handle the burden.”
There was little opposing testimony given on S.B. 17, save for some individuals who opposed the bill’s lack of specific dollar figures.
Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas submitted written testimony recommending the legislature allocate at least $5 million to cover costs for towns and cities — and she suggested providing the money as up-front grants rather than reimbursements.
And rather than a flat $10,500 for each town, Thomas wrote, “A more strategic distribution — taking into account factors such as population, historical voter participation rates, and the number of polling locations needed — will better serve both election administrators and voters.”
Thomas called the the task of administering elections “a collaborative effort,” and she concluded her testimony by encouraging lawmakers to take a “thoughtful” approach to their funding decisions.
That “will help ensure the changes we’ve committed to, such as establishing early voting, remain reliable, accessible, and sustainable,” Thomas wrote.