Researcher: KS Page 1 4/22/21
OLR Bill Analysis
HB 6579
AN ACT REVISING CERTAIN STATUTES CONCERNING VOTER
REGISTRATION AND ELECTION ADMINISTRATION.
SUMMARY
This bill makes various changes affecting election administration.
Principally, it does the following:
1. allows registrars of voters to provide notice of voter registration
sessions on their municipality’s website as an alternative to a
newspaper;
2. repeals obsolete provisions concerning municipal boards for
admission of electors;
3. eliminates a requirement that registrars meet on a specific day
before a regular election to complete the registry list of all
electors who may vote at the election, and instead requires them
to complete the list before the election;
4. eliminates requirements that (a) the advisory committee tasked
with establishing training programs for registrars of voters
develop an election law and procedures training program and
guide for registrars and their assistants and deputies and (b)
registrars or their assistants or deputies annually receive at least
10 hours of training through that program; and
5. requires moderators to file moderator returns electronically
with the secretary of the state and in hard copy with the town
clerk.
The bill also allows registrars of voters to appoint electors from any
Connecticut municipality to serve as voting tabulator tenders. Under
current law, registrars may appoint electors only from their 2021HB-06579-R000579-BA.DOCX
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municipality (§ 13).
Lastly, the bill makes minor, technical, and conforming changes (§§
8 & 9).
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
§ 1 — NOTICE OF VOTER REGISTRATION SESSION
The bill gives registrars of voters in each municipality the option of
providing notice of the time and place of voter registration sessions on
their municipal website. Under current law, they must notice these
sessions in a newspaper published or circulated in the municipality.
Instead, the bill allows either option. In either case, the notice must
appear from five to 15 days before the session and it need not be in the
form of a legal advertisement.
§§ 2-5 & 18 — BOARDS FOR ADMISSION OF ELECTORS
The bill repeals obsolete references to municipal boards for
admission of electors. Current law requires that these boards, among
other things, adjudicate appeals made by someone who is denied
admission as an elector (i.e., ability to vote) by a registrar of voters.
However, in practice municipalities no longer use these boards.
Rather, someone aggrieved by a registrar’s admission decision may file
a complaint with the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC).
§§ 6 & 7 — PRELIMINARY VOTER RE GISTRY LIST
The bill eliminates the requirement that registrars of voters meet on
the Tuesday of the fifth week before a regular election to complete a
correct registry list of electors entitled to vote in the election (i.e., those
on both the active and inactive voter registry lists). It instead requires
them to complete the list before the election and makes conforming
changes (e.g., repealing the requirement that the registrars notice the
session at least five days in advance). In practice, registrars maintain
this list on a continual basis through the statewide centralized voter
registration system.
§§ 10-12 & 18 — REGISTRAR TRAINING 2021HB-06579-R000579-BA.DOCX
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The bill eliminates a requirement that registrars of voters annually
take, or designate their deputies or assistants to take, at least 10
instruction hours under an election law and procedures training
program developed by the six-member advisory committee that trains
and certifies them. It similarly eliminates the requirement that the
committee develop the program and a related guide and submit them
to the secretary of the state for approval.
Under existing law unchanged by the bill, registrars of voters must
(1) be certified through a program developed by the secretary in
consultation with the advisory committee and (2) annually complete at
least eight hours of training that are separate from the 10-hour training
program eliminated by the bill. The advisory committee consists of
representatives of the secretary of the state and SEEC, and four
registrars of voters whom the secretary appoints in consultation with
the Registrars of Voters Association of Connecticut (CGS § 9-192a).
§§ 14-17— FILING MODERATOR RET URNS
By law, moderators must file a moderator return with the secretary
of the state and their town clerk after a primary, election, referendum,
or recanvass. Similarly, they must file (1) a corrected return for federal
offices showing provisional ballots after a recanvass and (2) for
municipalities divided into voting districts, an amended return after
meeting with the town clerk and registrars of voters if errors were
identified in the election night returns.
The bill generally requires moderators to file these returns
electronically with the secretary of the state and in hard copy with the
town clerk (in some cases, the hard copy must also be filed with the
registrars). Under existing law, moderators must already file the
preliminary and duplicate list of returns electronically with the
secretary of the state.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Government Administration and Elections Committee
Joint Favorable 2021HB-06579-R000579-BA.DOCX
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Yea 19 Nay 0 (04/05/2021)