Connecticut voters rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have opened the door to more early voting options.
The question on Tuesday's ballot would have given state officials new authority to pursue changes to election laws like having multiple voting days and expanded use of absentee ballots.
Supporters of the proposal said it would have increased voter turnout. Opponents believed it would give too much power to state officials to make significant changes to voting methods.
Speaking on WNPR's Where We Live, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said the wording of the ballot was confusing. "It was characterized in a number of different ways by a number of different groups," she said. "Some people were saying it was all about early voting. It wasn't. Maybe in an effort to make it so comprehensive, basically when people asked, 'What does this do?' You had to say, 'Nothing, immediately.' That was part of the problem."
Merrill said all the ballot measure would have done if approved was take out restrictions in the constitution. "That left it up to the argument that it gives the General Assembly the power to make the difference," she said, "which of course the General Assembly does on every law, but to some people that sounded sinister, I think."
Thirty-three states offer some form of early voting. Three states allow all voting by mail.
