HARTFORD – In response to a survey from the ACLU of Connecticut Rise PAC, candidates seeking to become Connecticut’s next Governor and Secretary of the State have published their views regarding voting rights, policing, incarceration, LGBTQ+ rights, and abortion access.
“Ultimately, we’re asking questions about how candidates, if elected, will either help or hurt Black and Latinx people. Many of these questions are about basic conditions of survival for thousands of people in our state, yet far too many candidates haven’t talked about them,” said Claudine Constant, ACLU of Connecticut Rise PAC secretary. “Transparency with the people is a basic requirement of public leadership. Every candidate for Governor or Secretary of the State should be up front with voters about where they stand on critical issues like racial justice. It is disappointing that some candidates have declined or ignored this opportunity to tell voters where they stand on key racial justice questions, and we will keep pushing for responses from every candidate who hasn’t provided a complete survey response.”
The civil rights group’s 13-question gubernatorial survey asked candidates questions for their positions on moving money out of policing and into school-based mental health services for children, a community health workforce, and affordable housing. Candidates were also asked for their views on gender-affirming care and civil rights protections for transgender youth, abortion access, cash bail, closing the Manson Youth Institution, “prison debt,” no-excuse absentee voting, and police use of facial recognition technology. Gubernatorial candidates Michelle Louise Bicking and Rob Hotaling provided full responses to the civil rights group’s survey. Bob Stefanowski’s campaign stated the candidate has a “no questionnaire/survey” policy. Ned Lamont has not responded to numerous requests for his answers.
In a 10-question survey, the group asked Secretary of the State candidates for their positions on automatic voter registration, early voting, “motor-voter”-style voter registration among housing authorities, permanent secure ballot drop boxes, voting rights for incarcerated people, no-excuse absentee voting, online ballot tracking, and the creation of a Connecticut Voting Rights Act. Secretary of the State candidate Stephanie Thomas has not yet completed the civil rights group’s survey, while Dominic Rapini’s campaign stated “the campaign and candidate are not participating in surveys.”
The ACLU of Connecticut Rise PAC is not endorsing or opposing any candidates for office or political party platforms and will not be providing financial or in-kind contributions to political candidates, political parties, or other PACs.
For copies of gubernatorial candidates’ responses: https://www.acluct.org/en/news/get-know-candidates-governor
For copies of Secretary of the State candidates’ responses: https://www.acluct.org/en/news/get-know-candidates-secretary-state
