On Friday absentee ballots become available to those who have requested them. And so, the voting in Connecticut begins. In the presidential election, we recommend those votes be cast for Democrat Joe Biden.

Our endorsement would have gone to any of the top Democrats who contested for the party’s nomination because they all would have been preferable to the current occupant of the White House. But we are able to offer our backing enthusiastically and without reservation because Biden’s policies and his centrist approach largely align with our editorial positions.

The former senator and vice president prevailed over a field of more left-leaning candidates who promised a free, full college education; student loan forgiveness; nationalized health care; and, in some cases, job guarantees and assurances of universal basic income. While arguments can be made for all these proposals, the reality is that they have no legislative path to enactment and would pull the party far afield of the political mainstream necessary to win presidential elections.

Biden offers to the American people an agenda that is achievable and desirable.

To provide universal access to health care, he would call on Congress to build upon the Affordable Care Act, adding a public option to provide downward pressure on premiums and place cost controls on drug prices.

On climate change and the environment, the United States would rejoin the Paris accord and restore clean air and water regulations stripped away during Donald Trump’s presidency. Working with lawmakers, Biden would seek to restore car efficiency mandates, invest in energy conservation measures, and through matching grants and tax incentives encourage a private-sector led conversion from fossil fuel use to clean, renewable energy sources.

Biden would pursue policies that would raise taxes on individuals with incomes above $400,000, including raising individual income, capital gains, and payroll taxes. At the same time, he would expand the earned income tax credit and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, aimed at helping working-class families struggling on the margins. It is an approach that seeks to restore fairness to the tax system, countering the needless and deficit-growing tax cuts for the rich passed by a Republican Congress during the Trump years.

The added revenue would help offset desperately needed investment in infrastructure.

Taken together — stabilizing access to health care, growing green technology, restoring a fair tax system, upgrading infrastructure — these policies would drive smart economic growth, boost job expansion, and support and enlarge the middle class, the nation’s strength.

The Scranton, Pa., born Biden, the son of a car salesman, is a product of that middle class. He knows its struggles and the importance of providing opportunities. To that end, Biden would introduce legislation to bolster community colleges and technical training programs, allowing them to provide students two years of community college or technical training without accumulating debt.

Unlike Trump, he would not ignore racial inequalities in law enforcement and the use of force by police, but neither would he “defund” police. Instead he would tie federal dollars to proof of police reforms and incentivize crime prevention and diversionary programs over incarceration.

On immigration, Biden seeks to implement policies this newspaper has long advocated by providing a path to legal status for those who entered the country without authorization but who have otherwise acted as law-abiding residents, utilize smart border control technology, and provide the means to assess requests for refugee status.

On foreign policy, Biden would rebuild vital alliances disrupted by President Trump’s isolationist tendencies, including again working closely with NATO countries as a bulwark against Russia and rejoining the World Health Organization which, while flawed, is crucial to coordinating responses to the pandemic and to meeting future global health threats.

Concerning China, a Biden administration — as did the Obama-Biden team — would recognize that working with allies in the Pacific provides the greatest chance of effectively confronting China’s unfair trade practices, technology theft and military expansion intentions. The Trump administration’s transactional approach to China is not working.

Though it will prove a challenge, a Biden presidency would seek to restore the Iran nuclear deal which, through difficult multi-nation negotiations, had kept Iran’s nuclear program bottled up, only to be foolishly tossed aside by the Trump administration.

Most fundamentally, a Biden presidency would restore civility, honor and competency to American governance. He would surround himself with qualified aides and, unlike Trump, demand their loyalty to serve the nation, not to serve and appease him.

Biden won’t insult, ridicule, or look to debase others. Instead he will strive to unite. That, perhaps more than any policy, is needed now.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.