Andrew Brown lives in Bridgeport and voters like him will help decide if Connecticut should allow everyone to vote via absentee ballot. Residents across the state are voting on the no-excuse absentee ballot amendment during the fall election.
The amendment may be more top of mind in Bridgeport. That's where the 2023 mayoral election was tarnished by allegations of absentee ballot fraud. Brown says if the statewide referendum passes, he would like to see tighter measures in place.
"The drop box thing, it's a little scary because people could throw 20, 30, ballots in; I mean, we've seen the films,” Brown said. “We've all seen them. We just have to have a system with the mail in ballots where people can't steal.”
Brown referred to a series of videos showing city employee Wanda Geter Pataky allegedly putting multiple envelopes into a ballot box.
Brown stood in line along with other city residents to vote at the Margaret Morton Government Center in Bridgeport on Monday, marking the first day of early voting in Connecticut. Towns across the state reported long lines of voters eagerly wanting to vote.
In Bridgeport, voter reaction to the referendum on Monday was mixed.
Jerome Jefferson is in support of the proposal. He said he’s in favor of more access to absentee ballots, especially after waiting in line at the polls for 15 minutes.
Jefferson defended greater access, even after talking about the 2023 mayoral election where Mayor Joe Ganim barely won.
“One situation don't affect the other,” Jefferson said in response to a question about whether the 2023 mayoral election changed his mind about the referendum.
He continued by criticizing Ganim’s opponent, John Gomes, for what he said was Gomes’ ulterior motives for running against him.
Other voters, including Bridgeport Generation Now Votes co-director and president Callie Heilmann and vice president and co-director Gemeem Davis, are also in favor of them, despite attacking alleged absentee ballot fraud by Ganim’s campaign.
Many Republicans in Connecticut have attacked the referendum by linking it to Ganim’s election or by pointing out absentee ballots that they say have been used fraudulently in the past during other elections.
But Davis and Heilmann say the opposite is true, because by opening up the process to everyone, it removes a middleman who could potentially interfere with a person’s ballot.
“Absentee voting, in and of itself, is safe and it's very good, but when you have political operatives that target people and lie to them about the reasons why they can vote absentee, that's when we see a problem,” Davis said. “So the fact that more people will be able to vote without an excuse, we can remove those political operatives from the system so that people's voices can be heard.”
Experts say voter fraud across the country is extremely rare.
Then there are other voters like Brenda Cobb, who seemingly attacked the referendum.
“Mail-in ballots, I don't like, but absentee, if it's necessary, guys in the service, you know, soldiers and people that can't get out, absentee is fine,” Cobb said.
Across CT, people show up for early voting
On Monday, the first day of early voting, residents in Bridgeport and across Connecticut were eager to get to the polls.
Nearly 39,000 voters across Connecticut had voted as of 3 p.m. Monday, according to the Secretary of the State's office.
Seventy-nine year old Marvin Franks cast his ballot in Waterbury. Franks, who is African American, said voting is important to him because some of his ancestors were not allowed to vote in the United States.
Franks said he was arrested as a college student in South Carolina during a demonstration for voting rights in the 1960s.
“It was just a protest [for] the rights of people to vote, that's all. We wanted to vote,” Franks said.
Daniel DeJesus also cast his ballot in Waterbury. This marked a special moment for DeJesus, who says it was his first time ever casting a ballot.
He says he's voting for former President Donald Trump, and thinks Trump can restore order to the country.
"I feel like I have a reason to vote right now, with the way this country has been going in the last three years," DeJesus said. "It made me get up out of my seat and come and vote."
DeJesus said his work schedule would have made it difficult for him to make it to the polls on Election Day. Without early voting, he said he probably would not have cast a ballot this year.
Early voting in Connecticut runs through Nov. 3.
Connecticut Public's Mark Mirko and Matt Dwyer contributed to this report.
