General Assembly Senate Joint Resolution
No. 13
January Session, 2021 LCO No. 5629
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
RESOLUTION PROPOSING A STATE CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT TO ALLOW SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLDS TO PREREGISTER
TO VOTE, REGIONAL VOTING CENTERS AND EARLY VOTING.
Resolved by this Assembly:
1 That the following be proposed as an amendment to the Constitution
2 of the State, which, when approved and adopted in the manner
3 provided by the Constitution, shall, to all intents and purposes, become
4 a part thereof:
5 Article thirty-first of the amendments to the Constitution is amended
6 to read as follows:
7 Any citizen who [will have] has attained the age of [eighteen] sixteen
8 years [on or before the day of a regular election] may apply for
9 admission as an elector at such times and in such manner as may be
10 prescribed by law, and, if qualified, shall become an elector on the day
11 of his or her eighteenth birthday. Any citizen who has not yet attained
12 the age of eighteen years but who will have attained the age of eighteen
13 years on or before the day of a regular election, who is otherwise
14 qualified to be an elector and who has applied for admission as an
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15 elector in such manner as may be prescribed by law, may vote in any
16 primary election, in such manner as may be prescribed by law, held for
17 such regular election.
18 Section 7 of article sixth of the Constitution is amended to read as
19 follows:
20 Sec. 7. a. The general assembly may provide by law for voting in the
21 choice of any officer to be elected or upon any question to be voted on
22 at an election by qualified voters of the state who are unable to appear
23 at the polling place on the day of election because of absence from the
24 city or town of which they are inhabitants or because of sickness or
25 physical disability or because the tenets of their religion forbid secular
26 activity.
27 b. The general assembly may further provide by law for voting in
28 person prior to the day of election in the choice of any officer to be
29 elected or upon any question to be voted on at an election by qualified
30 voters of the state, at polling places that serve more than one political
31 subdivision of the state.
32 Section 9 of article third of the Constitution is amended to read as
33 follows:
34 Sec. 9. At all elections for members of the general assembly the
35 presiding officers in the several towns shall [receive the votes of the
36 electors, and] count and declare [them] the votes of the electors in open
37 meeting. The presiding officers shall make and certify duplicate lists of
38 the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each. One list shall
39 be delivered within three days to the town clerk, and within ten days
40 after such meeting, the other shall be delivered [under seal] to the
41 secretary of the state.
42 Section 4 of article fourth of the Constitution is amended to read as
43 follows:
44 Sec. 4. [At the meetings of the electors in the respective towns held
45 quadrennially as herein provided for the election of state officers, the
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46 presiding officers shall receive the votes and shall count and declare the
47 same in the presence of the electors] The votes at the election of state
48 officers shall be counted and declared in open meeting by the presiding
49 officers in the several towns. The presiding officers shall make and
50 certify duplicate lists of the persons voted for, and of the number of
51 votes for each. One list shall be delivered within three days to the town
52 clerk, and within ten days after such meeting, the other shall be
53 delivered under seal to the secretary of the state. The votes so delivered
54 shall be counted, canvassed and declared by the treasurer, secretary,
55 and comptroller, within the month of November. The vote for treasurer
56 shall be counted, canvassed and declared by the secretary and
57 comptroller only; the vote for secretary shall be counted, canvassed and
58 declared by the treasurer and comptroller only; and the vote for
59 comptroller shall be counted, canvassed and declared by the treasurer
60 and secretary only. A fair list of the persons and number of votes given
61 for each, together with the returns of the presiding officers, shall be, by
62 the treasurer, secretary and comptroller, made and laid before the
63 general assembly, then next to be held, on the first day of the session
64 thereof. In the election of governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary,
65 treasurer, comptroller and attorney general, the person found upon the
66 count by the treasurer, secretary and comptroller in the manner herein
67 provided, to be made and announced before December fifteenth of the
68 year of the election, to have received the greatest number of votes for
69 each of such offices, respectively, shall be elected thereto; provided, if
70 the election of any of them shall be contested as provided by statute, and
71 if such a contest shall proceed to final judgment, the person found by
72 the court to have received the greatest number of votes shall be elected.
73 If two or more persons shall be found upon the count of the treasurer,
74 secretary and comptroller to have received an equal and the greatest
75 number of votes for any of said offices, and the election is not contested,
76 the general assembly on the second day of its session shall hold a joint
77 convention of both houses, at which, without debate, a ballot shall be
78 taken to choose such officer from those persons who received such a
79 vote; and the balloting shall continue on that or subsequent days until
80 one of such persons is chosen by a majority vote of those present and
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81 voting. The general assembly shall have power to enact laws regulating
82 and prescribing the order and manner of voting for such officers. The
83 general assembly shall by law prescribe the manner in which all
84 questions concerning the election of a governor or lieutenant-governor
85 shall be determined.
86 RESOLVED: That the foregoing proposed amendment to the
87 Constitution be continued to the next session of the General Assembly
88 elected at the general election to be held on November 3, 2022, and
89 published with the laws passed at the present session, or be presented
90 to the electors at the general election to be held on November 3, 2022,
91 whichever the case may be, according to article sixth of the amendments
92 to the Constitution. The designation of said proposed amendment to be
93 used on the ballots at such election shall be "Shall the Constitution of the
94 State be amended to (1) allow any citizen to apply for admission as an
95 elector when such citizen attains the age of sixteen years for the purpose
96 of being so admitted on such citizen's eighteenth birthday, and (2)
97 permit the General Assembly to provide for early voting and at polling
98 places that serve multiple political subdivisions of the state?"
Co-Sponsors: SEN. LESSER, 9th Dist.; REP. TURCO, 27th Dist.
S.J. 13
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