黑料吃瓜网 voters will be asked in this year鈥檚 election whether the state constitution should be amended to allow all voters to cast their ballots by mail.
Permitting no-excuse absentee voting, as it鈥檚 commonly called, would mark an expansion of 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 voting laws, which currently only allow residents to vote by mail under certain circumstances. But it would put 黑料吃瓜网 in line with many other states that already allow all voters to vote absentee.
The question will appear on ballots this November after the during the 2023 legislative session.
Here鈥檚 what its passage would mean for voting in 黑料吃瓜网.
What are 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 current absentee voting rules?
黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 constitution currently only allows absentee voting if a voter cannot vote in-person for reasons such as absence from their city or town on Election Day, sickness or physical disability or religious beliefs that prohibit secular activity on Election Day.
Voters can or by completing a and returning it to their town clerk. The ballot is then sent to the voter by mail and can be returned by mail or in-person to the address listed on it.
黑料吃瓜网 in 2022 to allow out-of-town commuters and caretakers of the disabled or chronically ill to vote by absentee ballot.
In 2020 and 2021, lawmakers temporarily in state law to include , in addition to being ill and unable to vote. The move expanded absentee voting to all 黑料吃瓜网 voters for those years鈥� elections.
What happens if voters approve the referendum?
No-excuse absentee voting wouldn鈥檛 automatically take effect.
Rather, passage would grant the General Assembly the ability to pass legislation that would expand mail-in voting to all voters. Lawmakers could choose to raise such a bill during the 2025 legislative session, which begins Jan. 8.
What happens if voters do not approve it?
Failure would mean that the General Assembly couldn鈥檛 pass a bill permitting no-excuse absentee voting. However, lawmakers could try putting the question to voters again in the future if they so choose.
The constitutional amendment process typically originates when a legislator raises an amendment proposal in the General Assembly. The proposal then must pass by a three-fourths majority in both the House and the Senate or a simple majority in both chambers in two successive legislative terms.
After gaining final passage in the state legislature, an amendment is then put to voters during the next state election.
Is this the first time 黑料吃瓜网 voters have been asked about no-excuse absentee voting?
No. In 2014, 黑料吃瓜网 ballots included a referendum question that would have permitted lawmakers to implement both no-excuse absentee voting and in-person early voting.
The attempt failed by . Political experts attributed the referendum鈥檚 failure, in part, to widespread confusion about the question.
Early voting has since become law in 黑料吃瓜网 after voters in 2022 and legislators . 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 presidential preference primary election earlier this year marked the first time the state .
Turnout for early voting during that election .
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