Governor Lamont, we in Connecticut must be free to exercise our right to vote from the safety of our homes by mail whether or not we are sick. We need you to issue an executive order so we don’t risk our lives or the lives of others in the process of casting our votes during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Connecticut cannot become a repeat of Wisconsin’s April 7th primary election voter rights nightmare where partisan operatives weaponized the coronavirus for voter suppression.

Very soon, some number of Wisconsinites who had to risk their health to vote will run a fever. They will realize they can't take deep breaths—that their bodies ache, relentlessly. Soon thereafter, the same will happen to their family members who have essential jobs in grocery stores and hospitals—followed by the next level out.

Most will never know for sure how they were exposed—but it’s absolutely unconscionable that exercising their right to vote is an act that could have cost them or others their lives.

This will not stand. Not here, not now. We must overcome the sometimes subtle, but always immoral and deadly excuses such as those raised by Minority Leaders Senator Len Fasano and Representative Themis Klarides who would force us to choose between risking our health and silencing our voices.

They take their cues from President Trump who tweeted that his party should fight very hard to stop reforms like vote-by-mail—even though he himself plans to vote absentee this year.

Governor Lamont, as you know so well, this is about saving lives and protecting our hard fought and won right to vote. As we mourn the loss of our dead and work to heal those who are sick, we ask with one voice that you allow vote-by-mail in Connecticut right away.

Thank you!

cc: Senator Martin M. Looney, Senate President Pro Tempore
Senator Bob Duff, Majority Leader
Representative Joe Aresimowicz, Speaker of the House
Representative Matthew D. Ritter, Majority Leader
Senator Len Fasano, Minority Leader
Representative Themis Klarides, Minority Leader
Senator Mae Flexer, Co-Chair, Government Administration and Elections Committee
Representative Daniel J. Fox, Co-Chair, Government Administration and Elections Committee