S.B. 471, An Act Concerning Elections and State Voting Rights

Senate Bill 471, also known as the Connecticut Voting Rights Act, covers quite a few substantive policies to make voting easier, more accessible, and fairer. The Connecticut Voting Rights Act is targeted at eliminating persistent structural electoral processes in the state that continue to prevent people of color from voting and that dilute the votes of voters of color. Connecticut’s history as the most regressive voting rights state in New England demonstrates the need for continued skepticism of any belief that voting rights are uniquely strong in this state. More even than our history, though, Connecticut’s voting present shows that we are not, in fact, exceptional. To the contrary, Connecticut is ranked in the bottom of all states, sometimes as low as the fourth-worst, for voting options. Black voters, and other protected class voters, in worst, for voting options. Connecticut have been denied equal electoral participation for well over two hundred years. The Connecticut Voting Rights Act has the potential to bring these failings to an end.