CONNECTICUT VOTERS SUE TO FORCE GOVERNOR LAMONT TO ALLOW REMOTE PETITION GATHERING AND MAIL-IN ABSENTEE VOTING
New Haven, CT – Two Connecticut voters have filed suit in federal court in Connecticut to challenge the state's requirements for in-person petition signatures and in-person voting given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
New Haven, CT – Two Connecticut voters have filed suit in federal court in Connecticut to challenge the state's requirements for in-person petition signatures and in-person voting given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Andy Gottlieb and Lorna Chand, the candidate and treasurer, respectively, of a campaign for state senate in 2018 that came 32 signatures short of accessing the ballot has brought a case challenging those same requirements given the pandemic.
The lawsuit also challenges Connecticut state law on absentee ballots, which it calls among the strictest laws in the country. The laws only allow voters to mail-in absentee ballots if they meet one of six stringent requirements under Connecticut law, which the lawsuit says Gottlieb and Chand do not meet. Chand alleges she is a frontline essential worker who believes it is her duty to protect herself and others from COVID-19 by voting by mail.
The Defendants are Governor Ned Lamont and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill. The lawsuit alleges that Secretary Merrill has called on Governor Lamont to ease absentee ballot restrictions. The Secretary has said she will be mailing absentee ballot applications to all voters in advance of the upcoming August 11 election. But, as the lawsuit says, thousands of voters will be ineligible to fill out the applications unless Governor Lamont uses his emergency powers to allow absentee ballot access. The lawsuit notes that Governor Lamont's emergency powers, however, may expire before the November 3 general election.
This isn't the first time a lawsuit has been brought challenging Connecticut's ballot access laws. Nearly twenty years ago, in a case called Campbell v. Bysiewicz, the US District Court concluded that candidates could have the option of gathering petition signatures. Now, the voters' attorney says, that option has been "rendered meaningless" by the existence of COVID-19.
Petitioners seek a declaration that the absentee ballot laws and ballot access laws are a violation of the Constitution of the United States, and for the court to give "a reasonable but prompt" amount of time to fix the problem.
A related case was similarly filed in federal court regarding in-person petition signature requirements for minor parties. That case, Libertarian Party of Connecticut v. Merrill, remains pending
Alexander T. Taubes
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