Politics & Government
Rapini declares extended early voting creates election hazards
Candidate for Republican Secretary of the State nomination would upgrade training
By Scott Benjamin
SOUTHINGTON – Dominic Rapini says he supports bringing Connecticut’s elections laws into the 21st Century, but only on a limited basis.
Rapini, who is one of three candidates vying for the Republican nomination for Secretary of the State, said in an interview with Patch.com that he could advocate for up to three days of early voting.
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However, the longtime account representative for Apple, said he fears the question regarding the constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot November 8 could extend early voting to more than a month.
Rapini, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 2018, said that he has “a lot of concerns about that provision, which is currently used in 44 states. Oregon has had mail-in voting since the 1990s.
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Democrat Denise Merrill of Hartford, the departing Secretary of the State, told Patch.com in 2019 that voter registrars and other election officials feel intense “pressure” since all the voting is done over 14 hours on the same day. She said that election officials, for example, were overwhelmed during the presidential-like turnout for the 2018 gubernatorial election.
In the November 8 election, voters will consider an amendment to the state constitution to allow for early voting in which designated ballot boxes would be available in the days before the election.
CT Mirror has reported that Connecticut is one of only three states that currently ban early voting through their constitutions. Merrill has said that 44 states and the District of Columbia already have some form of early voting.
However, Rapini contends that the questions voters will consider in the fall during the gubernatorial election could turn early voting into more than a month.
“What I’m not comfortable with is the vagueness and open-endedness of the question,” he explained.
“It’s like a blank check to whatever legislators are in power to say, ‘We will give you 40 days, 30 days, 20 days.’ And we’re not going to pay for it and part-time registrars are going to have to do it full-time,” he declared.
However, it is not possible for the voting to last more than a month, since the ballots are only printed 31 days before the general election.
“My fear is that [voters are] not going to have enough knowledge of it,” said Rapini, who lives in Branford. “There should be more specificity and more clarity so that the voters know exactly what they’re voting for.”
“They may vote emotionally: ‘Oh that sounds good, early voting,’ “remarked Rapini, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College where the played on the football team.
Rapini insists that once early voting extends beyond three days, “it shortens the amount of time a voter has to maximize their knowledge of a candidate. You lose the opportunity to learn important things about candidates.”
He said one study indicated that a number of people who exercised early voting and supported President Joe Biden in 2020 would have changed their vote if they had known about the controversy over the contents in the lap-top computer of his son, Hunter Biden, which surfaced after they had submitted their ballots.
In contrast to Merrill, Rapini believes that early voting would put a strain on municipal election officials, since unlike some other states Connecticut only has a tiny number of full-time election officials.
“You would have to take a part-time work force and have them work long, extended hours over weeks,” he declared. “It probably will be unfunded by the state government. It also will put additional budget pressure on the municipal governments.”
“My question is: What are we trying to solve?” he added. “The national average for voter turnout is 66 percent and we’re at 75 percent in Connecticut. We do an amazing job here without early voting, and we’re not putting undue pressure on our election officials.”
“The reason people talk about early voting is that they think it will increase voter turnout,” Rapini remarked. “But it doesn’t do that. Voter turnout either stays the same or it drops one or two percent.” He said that in Wyoming, with up to 45 days of early voting, the turnout has remained at 52 percent through the last five election cycles.
If early voting doesn’t boost turnout, then what about the proposal from former U.S. Rep. John Delaney (D-MD.) – who was a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination – to make Election Day a national holiday?
Rapini remarked, “I’m not against it. I’m not for it. I would not be an advocate for that. because I wouldn’t want to put that burden on a business. That is an individual’s responsibility. I don’t think a business should be paying for it” by being closed.
Also, in 2015 Democratic former President Barack Obama called for mandatory voting, saying that it would transform the election process more than any reform.
“It would be transformative if everybody voted — that would counteract money more than anything,” he said, according to The Washington Post.
USA Today has reported that about 25 countries have mandatory balloting and that in Australia there is a 90 percent turnout. If a voter doesn’t participate, he gets a letter and pays a $20 fine.
Rapini disagrees, saying, “I don’t believe in any mandates from the government. You can’t force interest in our election system.”
“It is just like in business when you are selling a product, he exclaimed. “Great candidates will drive voters to the polls.”
Rapini will face state Rep. Terrie Wood (R-141) of Darien and Brock Weber of Wolcott, the executive assistant to New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, for the nomination, which will be contested at the state convention in May and probably will ultimately be determined in an August 9 primary.
There are eight Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for the position after Merrill, a former state House majority leader, announced last year that she would not seek a fourth term.
The Secretary of the State is the official keeper of an array of public records and is responsible for the administration of many aspects of business law, according to the Blue Book, the Connecticut Register & Manual.
Rapini said that since his U.S. Senate bid he has “developed expertise” on elections by becoming a state certified election moderator, researching the voter rolls and studying election issues.
The Republicans have not won the Secretary of the State’s office since 1990 when Pauline Kezer of Plainville was elected. She served for one term before seeking the party ‘s gubernatorial nomination in 1994 against future three-term Governor John Rowland.
Rapini says that, if elected, he would seek provide free, and upgraded training for the new voter registrars.
However, by state law municipalities are required to pay for the training for their voter registration officials.
“If we build a comprehensive training system with a comprehensive curriculum, we will get ourselves 100 percent of these people certified,” Rapini said.
He said that he supports continuing using the paper ballots – the system that has been utilized since the federal election reform following the controversial 2000 presidential balloting. But he contends that the tabulating machines “are old” in Connecticut and “should have been replaced two years ago.”
Regarding federal election reform, Rapini said he opposes the current legislation before Congress, which would, among other things, reverse state level voting restrictions.
He said that it “removes the states’ rights to manage their own elections.”
As for Connecticut’s current primary system, Rapini said it would be better to hold the primaries in May or early June before the summer vacation season, than in August under the current system.
He said the current nomination system is arduous, as candidates for statewide office spent at least a year in many cases largely courting town committee members and other potential delegates.
Rapini said instead of putting pressure on candidates to visit every municipality from Metro City to East Prunesville, the state parties should organize 10 regional meet and greets across Connecticut and urge the delegates to attend.
Rapini said he is an advocate of the state Citizens Election Program, which former Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R-Brookfield) signed in 2005. It could potentially provide him with $400,000 to run in a primary and $865,000 for the general election.
He remarked, “I could not be doing this without it.”
Resources:
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/merrill-seeking-modernize-connecticut-elections
https://www.amazon.com/Right-Answer-Unify-Divided-Nation/dp/1250294967
https://portal.ct.gov/SOTS/Capitol/About-Denise-Merrill/Agency-Overview#:~:text=As%20Commissioner%20of%20Elections%20for,ensuring%20fair%20and%20impartial%20elections.
