The state Senate passed a bill Wednesday that allows more flexibility for people who wish to vote absentee.

The measure passed on a 30-4 bipartisan vote. Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, voted with Democrats on the issue. Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, was marked absent or not voting. Formica later said Somers was traveling on business and couldn't make it to vote.

The bill, which was passed by the state House last Wednesday, redefines “sickness” in general rather than a personal "illness" as an appropriate excuse for voting by absentee ballot.

Rep. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, led a Republican charge against the bill. His two main arguments were that it would create conditions ripe for mass-mailing absentee ballot applications, and it essentially provides for no-excuse absentee voting without the passage of a constitutional amendment.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill repeatedly has said the reason her office was able to mass-mail absentee ballot applications in 2020 is because of an influx of one-time federal funds to address the COVID-19 pandemic. There is nothing in the bill passed Wednesday that has anything to do with mass-mailing absentee ballot applications.

"We've talked a lot this afternoon about the mailing of absentee ballot applications, and I just want to be crystal clear that this legislature has never contemplated legislation in 2020, 2021 or 2022 that called for the mailing of absentee ballot applications," Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Killingly, said during debate Wednesday.

Sampson continued his long-term effort to cast doubt on the veracity of the 2020 election due to a sharp increase in absentee voting. The state has maintained that cases of fraud were few and far between in 2020, just as they have been historically.

Democrats say the bill is meant to allow the state to extend its statutes to match the constitution until the constitution can be amended for no-excuse absentee voting.

During the more than four-hour debate Sampson introduced several amendments aimed at increasing election security, all of which were defeated.

Under the bill, “An Act Revising Certain Absentee Voting Eligibility Statutes,” rather than referring to an individual voter's specific illness, the statutes would just say “sickness.” With the broader term, the sickness excuse could apply to fear of catching a disease like COVID-19 and allow for caretakers to vote using absentee ballot, House leadership said during a news conference Wednesday morning.

The summary of the bill describes the language that would be changed in the statutes: “qualified voters may vote by absentee ballot if they are unable to appear at their polling place during voting hours because of (1) sickness, rather than because of their own illness, or (2) physical disability, rather than because of their own physical disability.”

The bill also will make it so people don’t have to be away from the town where they’re registered to vote all day to vote absentee, and can instead be gone for just part of the day.

Members of the military, election workers and people with religious reservations can vote absentee, as well.

“Current law authorizes voters to vote absentee for this reason only if they are absent during all hours of voting. The bill requires that absentee ballots be updated to reflect the above changes,” the summary reads.

The bill is separate from when, during the last session, the legislature approved a no-excuse absentee voting resolution but could not reach the 75% threshold of votes needed to amend the constitution and put the question on the ballot in 2022. Since both chambers passed the measure, when the question is revisited during the 2023 session, only a simple majority vote in the House and Senate would put the idea to Connecticut voters in a 2024 referendum.

s.spinella@theday.com