State Watch

Connecticut becomes latest state to approve early voting

A voter checks in at Suffield Middle School on primary election day, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Suffield, Conn. Suffield is one of several small towns in Connecticut where control was flipped from Democrats to Republicans in 2021 municipal races. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut is the latest state to allow voters to cast their ballots early and in person. 

Saturday was the final day for early voting in the state before the presidential primary slated for Tuesday. It is the first election in the state to offer early voting. 

“This is a historic moment for Connecticut,” Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said in a statement earlier this week. 

“We now have so many more opportunities for people to go out and vote. If you have a last-minute emergency or a childcare issue, you no longer have to worry. You can have your say, your day.”

There is not a lot on the line since both President Biden and former President Trump have accumulated the needed number of delegates to be the presumptive nominees of their respective parties. 

Thomas’s office said they have not had any “major systematic or legal issues” regarding the the new voting option. 

Now just four states — Alabama, Delaware, Mississippi and New Hampshire — do not allow early, in-person voting. Those four states do have some options for absentee voters.

There are only four days for early voting in this primary, but the general election will have 14 days to choose from. That came after the voters in 2022 approved a constitutional amendment and both state legislatures passed and clarified the text last year.