🔒What Trump’s voting-by-mail push means for Connecticut

Connecticut’s expansion of voting by mail coincides with President Donald Trump’s assertion of extraordinary, unprecedented federal powers to dictate the conduct of U.S. elections. Essentially, the state and the Trump administration are working at cross purposes regarding the fundamental question of ballot access and ease of voting. This year, for the first time, any voter in Connecticut can vote by absentee ballot for any reason. A state constitutional amendment approved by referendum and an act of the General Assembly ended the state’s policy of restricting absentee voting to those able to attest an inability to vote in person on election day. Absentee voting is equated with voting by mail for a simple reason: The ballots can be returned in person to election officials, deposited in secure drop boxes typically outside city and town halls — or returned by mail. Applications are available via the secretary of the state’s website. Absentee ballots for the Aug. 11 primaries in Connecticut will be available on July 21. The state also has early in-person voting that begins on Aug. 3.

Can Trump change voting by mail in Connecticut?

So far, the answer seems to be no. States have the constitutional authority to administer their own elections. And Congress, not the president, can make changes at the federal level through legislation. But Trump, who says he wants to “nationalize the voting,” has sought to do so both through unilateral action and legislation he wants Congress to pass. On March 31, ahead of this year’s midterm election — in which the balance of Congress is in play — the president issued an executive order that could change how mail-in or absentee ballots work. He argues it’s an attempt to crack down on noncitizen voting, which is already prohibited by federal law and rare. His order instructs the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to compile a “state citizenship list” through citizenship, naturalization and Social Security records and send that to election officials in each state. It would allow for investigating or prosecuting local officials if they provide a ballot to someone who’s ineligible to vote in a federal election. The order also gives the U.S. Postal Service rulemaking authority on voting by mail. In response, the agency proposed a rule in early June that would require states to submit a “mail-in and absentee participation list” of voters who intend to vote by mail. If a state isn’t in compliance, the Postal Service could block the transmission of mail ballots. The executive order requires USPS to submit a final rule by the end of July. But the moves by the Trump administration face lawsuits, including one that Connecticut Attorney General William Tong joined in April. While the order and proposed rules are currently tied up in court, critics and election advocates argue such restrictions could disenfranchise voters. That’s on top of fears around politicizing agencies like the Postal Service to play referee on who can receive a mail-in ballot, as well as concerns about how the government may use voter data. And they worry about the logistics that local election officials may need to comply with — especially those who are strapped for resources. Trump also wants Congress to tackle voting by mail as part of Republicans’ SAVE America Act, which would require voters to provide “documentary proof” of citizenship when they register to vote or change their registration. It would also require an approved form of photo ID when voting in person or by mail. But it’s unlikely to fully get through Congress because there doesn’t appear to be enough votes for passage in the Senate.

Didn’t the Trump administration recently lose a voting-by-mail court case?

Yes, but that primarily was limited to the narrow question of whether a state could count absentee ballots that were postmarked prior to Election Day but arrived after the polls closed. In a decision released on June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a state law in Mississippi that allows mail ballots to be received up to five days after Election Day. The court, however, indicated in its 5-4 decision that it is likely to look unfavorably on the president’s expansive view of his executive authority to change election rules: “As Alexander Hamilton put it, the Constitution lodges power over congressional elections in state legislatures ‘primarily’ and in Congress ‘ultimately.’ ” Connecticut, by the way, is not a so-called “postmark state.” If you mail your absentee ballot in Connecticut, it must arrive before 8 p.m. on Election Day, when the polls close.

What is the president’s concern?

Trump has long cast doubt on the security and integrity of voting by mail, despite debunked allegations of widespread fraud and casting a mail-in ballot himself as recently as March.

How does absentee voting work in Connecticut?

It is largely a municipal function, with some involvement by the secretary of the state’s office. Voters can get a ballot without leaving home by completing an application on the Connecticut Online Absentee Ballot Request Portal. Your local town clerk’s office automatically will get and process the application, checking that you are a voter and entering your information into the Central Voter Registration System used to ensure no one can vote twice. A unique ballot identification number is created for each ballot to ensure only the voter who requested it can vote with that ballot. The ballot is then mailed to the voter.

Is the system secure?

No system is perfect, and Connecticut’s largest city of Bridgeport has a long and checkered history of campaigns urging the use of absentee ballots to a degree not seen elsewhere. But it has significant safeguards. One of them is the cross-checking of voters who cast votes in person against those who voted by absentee. If a voter who returned an absentee ballot — even on the day of an election — has voted in person at a polling place, the absentee ballot is not opened. A case in Stamford involving absentee ballots fraudulently obtained was uncovered when a voter whose name had been used to get an AB showed up at the polls to vote in person. He was allowed to vote, the fraudulently cast AB was seized and the person who committed the fraud was arrested and convicted of elections fraud.

So, what happened in Bridgeport?

While there have some allegations of campaigns collecting unfilled ballots from voters who legally obtained them, central to a scandal that unfolded in recent mayoral Democratic primaries and general election is the illegal “harvesting” of completed ballots. Some states allow campaigns to collect and deposit sealed absentee ballots completed by voters, but Connecticut bans the practice. Surveillance video outside city hall showed political operatives stuffing stacks of ballots into public drop boxes. The video made national news, a judge ordered a new election, and criminal cases arising from the scandal and previous AB abuses are pending.