Legislation

Voting is the linchpin right in a representative democracy: it is through this right that all others are protected and secured.

In the U.S., serving on a jury is a basic function of citizenship. By excluding people with certain records from jury service, Connecticut is also denying criminal defendants their constitutional right to a jury of their peers drawn from a fair cross-section of the community.

Youth activists have highlighted numerous benefits to lowering the voting age to 16, including making voting a habit before a person undergoes major life changes at age 18, many of which, like moving out or starting college, pose barriers to voting.

Our support for full decriminalization is strengthened by the racist history of enforcement of cannabis offenses in Connecticut.

Black Connecticut residents were three times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than whites,6 despite similar rates of cannabis use to white residents.

Highly militarized police units, like SWAT teams, turn communities into war zones. Neighborhoods are not battlegrounds and no arm of the government should be treating us like wartime enemies.

A free and fair voting system upholds the foundational cornerstone of our democracy: the right to vote.

When it comes to fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Connecticut, we believe that those rights are not just for the people who use the “he/him/his” pronouns throughout the Constitution, but for everyone.

People should not be counted as residents of the community in which they are incarcerated because they do not decide where they will be imprisoned.