HB 5262 An Act Revising Certain Absentee Voting Eligibility Statutes has been signed by the Governor. It allows qualified voters to vote by absentee ballot if during the hours of voting they are unable to appear because of sickness or physical disability other than their own sickness or physical disability.
Additionally, the bill authorizes qualified voters to vote by absentee ballot on a primary election, general election, or a referendum if the voter will be absent from the town of their voting residence.
HB 5262 also makes technical corrections regarding expired provisions of absentee ballot voting during the 2020 and 2021 elections. This would NOT give access to universal absentee ballot voting!
HB 5262 An Act Revising Certain Absentee Voting Eligibility Statutes has been signed by the Governor. It allows qualified voters to vote by absentee ballot if during the hours of voting they are unable to appear because of sickness or physical disability other than their own sickness or physical disability.
Additionally, the bill authorizes qualified voters to vote by absentee ballot on a primary election, general election, or a referendum if the voter will be absent from the town of their voting residence.
HB 5262 also makes technical corrections regarding expired provisions of absentee ballot voting during the 2020 and 2021 elections. This would NOT give access to universal absentee ballot voting!
Victories from the 2022 Legislative Session
Quick Links
● How to register to vote: https://voterregistration.ct.gov/OLVR/welcome.do
● Check your voter registration: https://portaldir.ct.gov/sots/LookUp.aspx
● Absentee ballot application: https://portal.ct.gov/SOTS/Election-Services/VoterInformation/Absentee-Voting
● Check the status of your absentee ballot application and/or absentee ballot (by looking up your voter registration): https://portaldir.ct.gov/sots/LookUp.aspx
● Find your polling place (by looking up your voter registration): https://portaldir.ct.gov/sots/LookUp.aspx
● List of local election offices: https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SOTS/ElectionServices/TownClerk/Town-Clerks-List.pdf
● How to register to vote: https://voterregistration.ct.gov/OLVR/welcome.do
● Check your voter registration: https://portaldir.ct.gov/sots/LookUp.aspx
● Absentee ballot application: https://portal.ct.gov/SOTS/Election-Services/VoterInformation/Absentee-Voting
● Check the status of your absentee ballot application and/or absentee ballot (by looking up your voter registration): https://portaldir.ct.gov/sots/LookUp.aspx
● Find your polling place (by looking up your voter registration): https://portaldir.ct.gov/sots/LookUp.aspx
● List of local election offices: https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SOTS/ElectionServices/TownClerk/Town-Clerks-List.pdf
2022 Voting Information
The CCAG Annual Scorecard helps to inform how your elected officials voted on the various bills related to CCAG and member concerns, helping with your decisions at the polls in November. You can view or download the scorecard here.
Preparing for the 2023 legislative session, CCAG, members and allies are working creatively and diligently to face the challenges of this moment. None of our successes would be possible without you. Thank you for your steadfast support as we build capacity for the future and ensure that progressive voices remain at the forefront of our policies and public life!
CCAG 2022 Legislative Scorecard
CCAG is proud to share how our intern & CCSU student @TainaSanaa took action yesterday at New Britain City Hall.
From her tweet:
"Yesterday on October 24th I went to the New Britain City Hall. I was taken back and devastated by the public display of a Confederate Flag in the office of the Republican registrar of voters, Peter Gosten.
"I expressed to Gosten how inappropriate this was as he proceeded to justify it being displayed. On the way out a POC who works at the City Hall expressed the discomfort they felt in their work environment due to the overt racism and hostility.
"Today I took action along with community organizers, the New Britain Racial Justice Coalition, and CCAG. We went to Gosten's office and demanded the flag be removed as it represents the preservation of slavery, Jim crow, and voter suppression among other acts of white supremacy."
From her tweet:
"Yesterday on October 24th I went to the New Britain City Hall. I was taken back and devastated by the public display of a Confederate Flag in the office of the Republican registrar of voters, Peter Gosten.
"I expressed to Gosten how inappropriate this was as he proceeded to justify it being displayed. On the way out a POC who works at the City Hall expressed the discomfort they felt in their work environment due to the overt racism and hostility.
"Today I took action along with community organizers, the New Britain Racial Justice Coalition, and CCAG. We went to Gosten's office and demanded the flag be removed as it represents the preservation of slavery, Jim crow, and voter suppression among other acts of white supremacy."
CCAG Intern Leads Removal of Confederate Flag from Registrar of Voters Office
This November in Connecticut, there is a Constitutional Amendment (Question 1) on the ballot. It’s important.
The purpose is to permit in-person Early Voting in Connecticut by allowing the state legislature to establish a system of Early Voting, much like nearly every state in the nation.
Currently, 46 states permit Early Voting. Connecticut does not, which often discourages or prevents eligible voters in our state from voting. Early Voting can help families, commuters, employees, employers, seniors and students – virtually everyone who is eligible to vote.
As Americans, voting is among our most fundamental rights. Especially in Connecticut – the Constitution State – eliminating obstacles so that residents can exercise that right is why Question 1 is so important.
VOTE YES FOR EARLY VOTING!
Pollstanders are needed! To sign up for a training, click here.
A web site with more information is here.
A printable flyer is here.
Get Involved and Vote Yes on Question One!
Democracy 2022
Since its inception in 1970 on the First Earth Day as Earth Action, then incorporated as CT Citizen Action Group (CCAG) in 1971, the CCAG continues to take action on the issues you care about. You can read more about this year's environmental agenda here.
If you are not a current donor, we are asking those who are able, to help us remain the longest standing Citizen Action Group in the nation! If you can, please consider an Earth Day birthday gift of $5, $10, $20 or more for those who can’t.
Stay safe, stay informed, take care of each other. CCAG now more than ever!
Values that drive our work: We are based on the belief:
Through its history CCAG has utilized a variety of strategies towards this end. It has included community organizing, mass canvasses, legislative advocacy, direct action, political endorsements, trainings, research, and coalition building. This experience can not be matched in Connecticut or arguably in any other state. The staff and leaders who have participated in these efforts continue to play significant roles in Connecticut and across the country in the fight to build a more just and sustainable society. Please consider a donation to support this work today.
If you are not a current donor, we are asking those who are able, to help us remain the longest standing Citizen Action Group in the nation! If you can, please consider an Earth Day birthday gift of $5, $10, $20 or more for those who can’t.
Stay safe, stay informed, take care of each other. CCAG now more than ever!
Values that drive our work: We are based on the belief:
- that democracy is not a spectator sport and that an accountable government plays a vital role in any just society;
- that it is imperative for people to be willing to challenge powerful interests;
- that all people deserve an equal opportunity and to achieve this we must overcome our legacy of discrimination based upon race, gender, sexuality and ability;
- that as a society we must work to end poverty and exploitation, guarantee health security for all of families and equal access to a quality public education, and
- that we have a responsibility to leave future generations with a more sustainable and just place to live.
Through its history CCAG has utilized a variety of strategies towards this end. It has included community organizing, mass canvasses, legislative advocacy, direct action, political endorsements, trainings, research, and coalition building. This experience can not be matched in Connecticut or arguably in any other state. The staff and leaders who have participated in these efforts continue to play significant roles in Connecticut and across the country in the fight to build a more just and sustainable society. Please consider a donation to support this work today.
This will be the 3rd annual ride!
The challenge is virtual, you can ride from anywhere in the world October 15th thru the 16th. From bicycles to tricycles everyone can join!
RSVP & all of the details are here
Participants create their own route anywhere in the world. It could be 100 miles up the coast, 10 times around your cul de sac or spin cycle... be as creative as you want.
The physical challenge will begin on October 15th and will run thru the 16th. You choose when you want to fulfill your challenge on those dates. Take photos/videos for a chance to win a prize!
The challenge is virtual, you can ride from anywhere in the world October 15th thru the 16th. From bicycles to tricycles everyone can join!
RSVP & all of the details are here
Participants create their own route anywhere in the world. It could be 100 miles up the coast, 10 times around your cul de sac or spin cycle... be as creative as you want.
The physical challenge will begin on October 15th and will run thru the 16th. You choose when you want to fulfill your challenge on those dates. Take photos/videos for a chance to win a prize!
FREE event, registration required.
July 28, 2022 at the CT Science Center
Take a cinematic journey to a place that is vast, wild, and magical – where one of earth’s greatest natural spectacles unfolds. Princess Daazhraii Johnson reveals the land that has sustained her people for untold generations. Filled with intimate moments featuring polar bears and musk oxen, wolves, grizzlies, golden eagles and more, The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness @ProTheArctic is the first cinematic exploration of a world few have truly seen until now.
Along with the film will be opportunities to take action to #ProtectTheArctic from oil and gas drilling that threaten Indigenous cultures, local wildlife and the global climate.
Covid-19 Guidance: Masks will be required at this event.
Co-hosted by the Arctic Refuge Defense Campaign, CT Citizen Action Group and Sierra Club
FREE event, registration required.
July 28, 2022 at the CT Science Center
Take a cinematic journey to a place that is vast, wild, and magical – where one of earth’s greatest natural spectacles unfolds. Princess Daazhraii Johnson reveals the land that has sustained her people for untold generations. Filled with intimate moments featuring polar bears and musk oxen, wolves, grizzlies, golden eagles and more, The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness @ProTheArctic is the first cinematic exploration of a world few have truly seen until now.
Along with the film will be opportunities to take action to #ProtectTheArctic from oil and gas drilling that threaten Indigenous cultures, local wildlife and the global climate.
Covid-19 Guidance: Masks will be required at this event.
Co-hosted by the Arctic Refuge Defense Campaign, CT Citizen Action Group and Sierra Club
The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness Film Screening
CCAG and partners were out in force both inside and outside the Travelers annual shareholder meeting May 25, 2022.
Read more here.
Read more here.
Travelers Shareholder Meeting
Thank you to everyone who turned out on Tax Day.
The General Assembly’s Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee passed a revenue package that incorporates many of Recovery For All’s priorities, including:
A $300 tax credit for each child (up to $900) for families earning up to $200,000 per year;
A permanent 11% increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income families with children, putting an additional $300 in their pockets to make ends meet;
Historic investments to create 10,000 new childcare slots and increase the wages of childcare workers;
and Funding for children’s mental health services to help them cope with the isolation and traumas caused by the pandemic.
The Committee also passed critical transparency measures to ensure the Department of Revenue Services provides comprehensive, uniform data to guide tax policy decisions and report how much all categories of taxpayers, including the ultra-wealthy and mega-profitable corporations, pay.
SPONSORED BY RECOVERY FOR ALL
Additionally – Recovery for All had a press conference last week to release two new reports exposing the Yankee Institute as a right-wing think tank which has exerted a destructive influence over public policy here in Connecticut for far too long. Here's the first report and here's the second report. CCAG pointed out that the Yankee Institute shares donors and ties with Koch Industries, which is still doing business in Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine. The reports were covered in CTNewsJunkie and CTInsider (which Hearst Media reprinted in local newspapers statewide). Separately, RFA is also mentioned in this Courant article about tax incidence analysis reports.
Thank you to everyone who turned out on Tax Day.
The General Assembly’s Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee passed a revenue package that incorporates many of Recovery For All’s priorities, including:
A $300 tax credit for each child (up to $900) for families earning up to $200,000 per year;
A permanent 11% increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income families with children, putting an additional $300 in their pockets to make ends meet;
Historic investments to create 10,000 new childcare slots and increase the wages of childcare workers;
and Funding for children’s mental health services to help them cope with the isolation and traumas caused by the pandemic.
The Committee also passed critical transparency measures to ensure the Department of Revenue Services provides comprehensive, uniform data to guide tax policy decisions and report how much all categories of taxpayers, including the ultra-wealthy and mega-profitable corporations, pay.
SPONSORED BY RECOVERY FOR ALL
Additionally – Recovery for All had a press conference last week to release two new reports exposing the Yankee Institute as a right-wing think tank which has exerted a destructive influence over public policy here in Connecticut for far too long. Here's the first report and here's the second report. CCAG pointed out that the Yankee Institute shares donors and ties with Koch Industries, which is still doing business in Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine. The reports were covered in CTNewsJunkie and CTInsider (which Hearst Media reprinted in local newspapers statewide). Separately, RFA is also mentioned in this Courant article about tax incidence analysis reports.
