OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-1535
AN ACT CONCERNING THE SECRETARY OF THE STATE'S
RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO EARLY VOTING.
Primary Analyst: TM 4/13/25
Contributing Analyst(s): DD
Reviewer: PR
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 26 $ FY 27 $
Secretary of the State GF - Cost 53,500 46,700
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 26 $ FY 27 $
All Municipalities STATE
MANDATE
1
- Potential
Savings
See Below See Below
Mansfield; New Britain; Stamford;
Windham; Danbury; New Haven
STATE
MANDATE
- Cost
Up to 100,000 Up to125,000
Explanation
The bill makes a variety of changes to Connecticut's law on early in-
person voting and results in the fiscal impacts described below.
Section 1, requires that certain municipalities that host qualifying
public universities to open a second early-in person voting location on
campus resulting in a cost of $53,500 to the Secretary of the States' Office
in FY 26 and a cost of $46,700 in FY 27. These costs are associated with
the one-time cost of installation of Central Voter Registration System
1
State mandate is defined in Sec. 2-32b(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes, "state
mandate" means any state initiated constitutional, statutory or executive action that
requires a local government to establish, expand or modify its activities in such a way
as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues. 2025SB-01535-R000663-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
(CVRS) lines
2
for five universities in FY 26, and the monthly
maintenance costs for each
3
additional location. It is expected that this
provision will impact one additional university in FY 27
4
.
Additionally, there is an expected total cost for impacted
municipalities of up to $100,000 in FY 26 and up to $125,000 in FY 27.
This cost is associated with the additional cost of labor and supplies to
facilitate an additional early-in person voting location for each impacted
town. This is expected to impact five towns in FY 26 and six towns in FY
27. The exact cost will depend on the number, cost, and availability of
election workers.
This section also makes a variety of changes to early-in person voting
procedures that result in potential savings to each municipality. This
savings is associated with no longer requiring the usage of an outer
envelope, removing several storage requirements, and instead allowing
electors to place their ballot directly into the tabulator for counting and
storage. The exact savings will vary by town and depend on the
reduction in labor and printing as a result of the bill.
The remaining sections of the bill make a variety of changes that
result in no fiscal impact to the state or municipalities.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation, number of election workers
required, and the complexity of elections.
2
The cost to install CVRS lines is anticipated to cost $3,500 each.
3
The ongoing subscription and maintenance cost for CVRS lines is $600 per month or
$7,220 per year, per municipality.
4
UCONN Stamford is expected to require a voting location beginning in FY 27.