by Izetta Asikainen and Coral Aponte
HARTFORD, CT – In an effort to secure Connecticut’s elections, Rep. Matt Blumenthal and Sen. Mae Flexer want to make sure election workers are safe and that the information provided to the public is accurate.
That’s why the co-chairs of the Government Administration and Elections Committee are proposing two pieces of legislation, the first seeks to protect election workers by prohibiting firearms or other deadly weapons within 1,000 feet of a voting location during its time of use.
That proposal had supporters of the Second Amendment up in arms Wednesday.
One way the bill intends to protect election workers is prohibiting firearms and any deadly weapons within 1,000 ft of an election-related location during its time of use, which has second amendment rights advocates opposed to the bill, saying it is an infringement on their gun rights.
The proposal would make it a class D felony if you are in possession of a deadly weapon in any of these locations: any polling place, early voting location, same-day election registration location, place for counting ballots, location where recanvass is being conducted, and drop box locations.
Many Connecticut citizens testified that even though they abide by gun laws, this proposal would make them a felon.
“We definitely support the spirit of this provision but the 1,000 foot radius might be too far and encompass, lets say, private property,” Secretary of the State’s Director of Elections Kristin Sullivan said.
Sen. Rob Sampson agreed with Sullivan, saying he lives within 500 feet of town hall, making him a felon even though his firearms are locked away at home.
Many polling places are held in schools where a voter would already have to abide by the gun laws within that certain building but there is no specific law to election related buildings, said Blumenthal.
Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas and Kristin Sullivan, director of Elections for the Secretary of the State, testify before the Government Administration and Elections Committee on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. Credit: Izetta Asikainen / CTNewsJunkie
Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said there needs to be exemptions to address locations that aren’t schools but to also protect those on private property, like Sampson, who have their firearms safely located in their home.
While Thomas believes amendments need to be made to this proposal she applauded the efforts to protect these workers.
She said she has heard from registrars, as well as poll and election workers, about existing harassment but also about the fear they hold about potential threats.
“There’s the fear of something happening, and I certainly hear that a lot, in part based on what has actually happened in other places around the country,” Thomas said.
The bill outlines two other proposals to try and mitigate these threats: one uses the Freedom of Information Act to allow election workers to request to have their personal information be exempt from disclosure, the other creates a class C felony against anyone who threatens or harrasses an election worker while performing their duties.
Flexer stated that they have seen election workers not return because of this instilled fear. She said this bill is intended to help them feel safe and protect them while doing their job.
At the press conference, Flexer said, “We feel the need to put forward this proposal to help allay some of those concerns and help election workers know that we’re gonna stand and have the strongest laws as we can to protect them and the critical work that they do and the execution of our democracy.”
A second bill seeks to prevent the spread of misinformation 90 days before an election.
According to Blumenthal, the bill attempts to deter and punish those who use deepfakes with the intention of interfering in elections by taking an approach of “banning the distribution of deep fakes and other artificial intelligence or technologically created videos, audio, or images, in the period of 90 days before an election.”
Earlier this year, a deepfake recording sought to deter Democratic voters from voting in the presidential primary in New Hampshire.
“Deep-fakes in the days and hours and time immediately before an election could have serious consequences in impairing voters’ informedness and their ability to tell what’s actually happening,” Blumenthal said.
To ensure voters are confident in the information they receive, the bill prohibits anyone from distributing a communication of an individual during the 90-day period preceding an election or primary if: “Such person knows or should reasonably know that such image, audio or video is deceptive synthetic media; the communication containing such deceptive synthetic media is distributed without the consent of such individual; and such distribution is intended to injure a candidate or influence the result of such election or primary,” the bill states.
Any person who violates those provisions will be guilty of a class C misdemeanor, but protections for certain circumstances are provided within the bill.
A person may distribute a communication containing deceptive synthetic media during the 90-day period prior to an election or primary if there is a clear disclaimer present, indicating that it is in fact manipulated media.
According to Blumenthal, the bill “creates safe harbors for our news media to be able to report on deep fakes, provided that they make clear that they are manipulated… It also provides mechanisms for both candidates, individuals who may be depicted, or the Attorney General, to take measures to prevent the spread of deep fakes.”
“We believe that this is vitally important to the security of our elections, to the transparency of our elections, and making sure the public is not misled, to ensure that wrongdoers are not able to interfere in our electoral process,” Blumenthal said.