Press Releases
12/03/2020
Historic Number of Votes Cast by Absentee Ballot in the 2020 Election
More than 650,000 voters cast their vote by absentee ballot
93% of absentee ballots issued were returned
35% of ballots cast were absentee ballots
29% of registered voters returned absentee ballots
Absentee ballot rejection rate of less than 1% lowest in recent history
HARTFORD – Secretary of the State Denise Merrill today announced details of the historic number of absentee ballots cast in 2020.
“No voter should ever have to choose between protecting their health and casting their vote, and in Connecticut in the 2020 election, no voter was forced to make that choice. For the first time in Connecticut history, due to the COVID-19 crisis, every Connecticut voter was allowed to vote by absentee ballot if they chose to, and the response was overwhelming,” said Secretary Merrill. “ Connecticut voters clearly want options to make casting their ballots and making their voices heard more convenient. Allowing every voter to vote by absentee ballot in every election, as well as adding an option for Early Voting in-person, would make voting more convenient and make it easier for every registered voter to cast their ballot and choose the people who will represent them.”
2020 Absentee Ballots by the Numbers:
716,214 absentee ballots were requested and issued to voters
665,597 voters returned absentee ballots
92.93% of issued absentee ballots were returned
2,334,979 registered voters
28.50% of registered voters returned absentee ballots
1,861,086 votes cast
659,370 absentee ballot votes were counted
35.43% of votes cast were cast by absentee ballot
99.06% of returned absentee ballots were counted
0.94% of returned absentee ballots were rejected
The most likely reasons why an absentee ballot would be rejected is for lack of a signature on the inner envelope, lack of an inner envelope, enclosing more than one ballot in an inner envelope or more than one inner envelope in an outer envelope, or lack of an outer envelope. The absentee ballot rejection rate was 1.94% in 2018, 1.96% in 2016, 2.13% in 2014, and 2.11% in 2012. In 2020, Secretary Merrill used $600,000 in federal CARES Act funding and $2.1 million in third-party grant funding to educate Connecticut voters on the changes in the election due to COVID-19, including on how to cast a valid absentee ballot.
“When more voters vote by absentee ballot than in any other election in Connecticut history, but rejected absentee ballots are half as many as previous years, the message that every voter could participate by absentee ballot, and how to do it properly, clearly resonated with voters,” said Secretary Merrill. “This is a good illustration of the importance of federal and state investment in election infrastructure – if you build it, they will vote!”
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