Read a PDF of our statement here.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and the New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA) sent a letter urging the Connecticut Secretary of State to take immediate action to correct two significant issues that have come to light regarding absentee ballots in the upcoming primary election on August 11, 2020. Those issues are: 

  • Tens of thousands of Connecticut voters are at risk of being disenfranchised because absentee ballots were not mailed in a timely fashion. 
  • The absentee ballot inner envelope causes voter confusion because it fails to include COVID-19 as a basis for voting by absentee ballot.

We are urging the Secretary of State to immediately ask the Governor to issue an Executive Order to allow all absentee ballots to be counted so long as they are postmarked by Tuesday, August 11, 2020, and to immediately take all possible steps to inform the public that all voters are permitted to cast an absentee ballot, and permitted to sign the inner envelope of the absentee ballot, on the basis of COVID-19 concerns.

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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.

Follow LDF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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