Press Releases
12/16/2025
Four Weeks from Today: Special Election for New Britian’s 25th House District is January 6 - Special Elections in 139th House District, Fairfield Also Happening Soon
(Hartford, Connecticut) – Absentee ballot applications are available for the Tuesday, January 6, special election in New Britain to fill the 25th House District vacancy caused by the resignation of now-former state Rep. Bobby Sanchez.
Sanchez, a Democrat, resigned last month after being elected mayor of New Britain in the November 4 municipal election.
This special election, open only to voters who live in New Britian’s 25th District, will be the first of three special elections to take place in early 2026.
Like in all elections, eligible voters in New Britian’s 25th House District will have three options to cast their ballots:
• In person on the Special Election Day — Tuesday, January 6
• In person during four days of Early Voting that begins Wednesday, December 31
• By absentee ballot, if specific conditions are met
Despite the fact that voters in 2024 approved a constitutional amendment to allow for no-excuse absentee voting in Connecticut, members of the General
Assembly have not yet enacted the needed legislation for it to take effect. As a result, Connecticut law still permits absentee voting only for specific reasons. These include:
• Active service in the armed forces
• Absence from town on Election Day
• Sickness (not necessarily the voter’s own)
• Physical disability (not necessarily the voter’s own)
• Religious beliefs that prevent secular activities like voting on Election Day
• Duties as an election official at a polling place other than one’s own
To request an absentee ballot, voters must complete and sign an application form that can be obtained online at MyVote.CT.gov/absentee or in person from the Town Clerk’s office.
At MyVote.CT.gov/absentee, downloadable mail-in forms are available in both English and Spanish.
Other key dates related to the 25th House Special Election are:
• Friday, December 19: Final day for mail-in voter registration forms to be postmarked or hand-delivered to New Britian’s Registrars of Voters
• Monday, January 5: Final day to register in person by state law, there will be four days of in-person Early Voting at both the New Britain Senior Center and Central Connecticut State University:
• Wednesday, December 31, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Friday, January 2, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Saturday, January 3, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Sunday, January 4, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
On Special Election Day Tuesday, January 6, polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. State law requires that all absentee ballots be received by the Town Clerk no later than 8 p.m. Election Day.
The other two special elections scheduled for early 2026 will take place on January 13 and February 3: the former to fill a vacancy in the 139th House District and the latter to elect a First Selectman in Fairfield.
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