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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 5448
AN ACT CONCERNING SECURITY OF CERTAIN ELECTION
WORKERS AND ELECTIONS -RELATED LOCATIONS.
SUMMARY
This bill allows certain election workers to temporarily stop
municipal public agencies from disclosing their residential addresses
from public records under the state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
It prohibits the agencies from disclosing this information for up to 90
days before and after an election contest, if requested by the worker (§
1).
The bill also generally makes it a class D felony to possess a deadly
weapon within 250 feet of an election site, including polling places, early
voting locations, and drop boxes (§ 2).
Additionally, the bill explicitly criminalizes the harassment of
election workers while performing their election duties and specifies
that these workers have a civil cause of action against a harasser (§ 3).
Lastly, the bill makes conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2024
NONDISCLOSURE OF ELE CTION WORKERS’ RESID ENTIAL
ADDRESSES (§ 1)
The bill prohibits municipal public agencies from disclosing under
FOIA the residential address of certain election-related workers (i.e.,
municipal clerks; registrars or deputy registrars of voters; poll workers;
or election, primary, or audit officials) if the worker requests it.
Specifically, the worker must give a municipal public agency a written
nondisclosure request and a substitute business address (or, if he or she
does not have one, the business address of the town or city hall, or the 2024HB-05448-R000414-BA.DOCX
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municipality’s registrars of voters). Under the bill, these workers’
business addresses are subject to disclosure under FOIA. The disclosure
prohibition begins 90 days before the election contest or, if already
within that period, the day the worker submits the request. The
prohibition lasts for 90 days after the contest.
Under the bill, these provisions:
1. apply regardless of whether the requesting election worker is the
public agency’s employee;
2. do not prohibit disclosure of a residential address due to the
applicant’s status as an elected or appointed official (except if
serving as a town clerk, registrar of voters, or deputy registrar of
voters);
3. do not apply to certain (a) Department of Motor Vehicle records
and (b) municipal and election-related documents (e.g.,
municipal grand lists, land records, preliminary and final voter
registry lists, petition forms, and logs of absentee ballot
applications); and
4. do not affect a worker’s ability to qualify for nondisclosure of his
or her residential address under existing law’s protections for
certain public agency employees.
Existing law (1) generally prohibits a public agency from disclosing
under FOIA the residential address of certain employees (e.g., judges,
police officers, and firefighters, among others) from its personnel,
medical, or similar files; (2) allows these employees to also request
address confidentiality from public agencies that are not their employer;
and (3) requires agencies to follow certain procedures after receiving a
FOIA request for certain records containing these people’s home
addresses.
Violations of Disclosure Prohibition
The bill extends existing law’s provisions on violating a disclosure
prohibition to also cover the bill’s prohibition on municipal public 2024HB-05448-R000414-BA.DOCX
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agencies disclosing election worker addresses. Under this law, public
agencies or their employees and public officials cannot be penalized for
violating the disclosure prohibition unless the Freedom of Information
Commission (FOIC) finds that the violation was willful and knowing.
Complaints about these violations must be made to the FOIC, which
must hold a hearing under the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act
for each complaint. However, it may dismiss a complaint without a
hearing if it finds no willful and knowing violation after examining it
and construing all allegations most favorably to the complainant.
If the FOIC finds a willful and knowing violation, it may impose a
civil penalty of between $20 and $1,000 against the agency, official, or
employee. Existing law does not allow a private right of action against
public agencies or their employees and public officials for violating the
disclosure prohibition.
CRIMINAL OFFENSES
Possession of Weapon Near Election Sites (§ 2)
The bill generally makes it a class D felony (i.e., punishable by up to
five years in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both) to possess a firearm or deadly
weapon within 250 feet of an election site when the person knows it is
unlawful to do so. Under the bill, election sites include the following:
1. polling places on the day of an election, primary, or referendum;
2. early voting locations during an early voting period;
3. same-day election registration locations on election day;
4. central ballot counting locations;
5. recanvass locations; and
6. drop boxes starting the first day absentee ballots are issued for an
election contest until the polls close for that contest.
The bill allows exceptions for someone lawfully possessing a weapon
in the following circumstances: 2024HB-05448-R000414-BA.DOCX
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1. on private property that is not part of an election site;
2. when unloaded and on a motor vehicle in a locked container or
firearms rack;
3. for election sites on school grounds, (a) as part of a program
approved by school officials; (b) as agreed between school
officials and a person or that person’s employer; or (c) when
traversing school property to gain access to public or private
lands open to hunting or other lawful purposes, if entry is
allowed by a local or regional board of education and the firearm
is unloaded;
4. by a peace officer engaged in official duties; and
5. by a person passing through the restricted radius for only as long
as needed to travel to another location (it is unclear what
constitutes “passing” and whether an otherwise lawful visit to an
election site, such as depositing an absentee ballot into a drop
box, is permissible under the bill).
Harassment of Poll Workers (§ 3)
The bill also makes it a class C felony (i.e., punishable by up to ten
years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both) to influence or attempt to
influence through force, threat, or harassment an election worker
performing election administration duties. This applies to town clerks,
registrars of voters, deputy registrars, and election, primary, and
recanvass officials.
Additionally, the bill makes it a class A misdemeanor (i.e., punishable
by up to 364 days in prison, a $2,000 fine, or both) to publicly disclose
an election worker’s personal identifying information with the intent to
harass, terrorize, or alarm the worker or influence them in performing
his or her election administration duties. “Personal identifying
information” is any name, number, or other information that may be
used to identify a specific individual, (e.g., name, date of birth, and
Social Security number). 2024HB-05448-R000414-BA.DOCX
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The bill gives election workers a civil cause of action against violators
of either provision.
Existing law criminalizes certain acts of harassment and intimidation.
For example, 2nd-degree harassment (i.e., various actions with the
intent to harass, terrorize, or alarm another person) is a class C
misdemeanor, while 1st-degree harassment (i.e., certain threats to kill or
physically harm a person) is a class D felony (CGS §§ 53a-182b & 53a-
183).
COMMITTEE ACTION
Government Administration and Elections Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 13 Nay 6 (03/22/2024)