From the transcript of the Connecticut Senate, May 31, 2007 - debate on SB 1312, a bill to do a pilot study of Election Day Registration:

"SEN. DEFRONZO:

Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I rise to support the amendment and to recognize the efforts of Senator Slossberg and Senator Meyer in bringing this concept to the State Senate. Several years ago, we passed this bill, actually a broader bill, which was [inaudible] by Governor Rowland at that time.

And ever since, we have been struggling with the mechanism for resurrecting this bill and getting it before us. And I think the concept of a pilot program is a good one and should address the many reservations that have been addressed or expressed by registrars of voters around the state.

Year after year, they raise concerns about potential fraud, concerns about managing such a system, and, yet, we have no hard evidence to either confirm or refute those claims. So the idea of a pilot program should not be a particularly difficult one for anyone to accept.

It would give us the opportunity to test the system. In the last Presidential election, there were approximately 30,000 Presidential ballots cast in this state, which is an indication of the vast number of people out there, who would might, likely take advantage of this program.

We will be joining six or seven other states that have such a process of registration, and as Senator Slossberg indicated earlier, turnout in those states is 8% to 15% higher than the national average.

Registrars of voters in this state have responsibility to balance their job between maintaining and protecting the integrity of the system and expanding participation in the system. And I've never criticized the registrar of voters for erring on the side of protecting the integrity of the system, but this is an opportunity to do both.

To test this new system which would grant the franchise in a new and exciting way to many, many people who want to participate and at the same time be able to ensure that the integrity is protected.

We can learn from this pilot program and to the extent that there are problems, we could come back in the next session, fine tune the procedure and processes in this bill, and it will lead us to a much more intact system for the future. So again, I want to recognize the efforts of Senator Slossberg. This was a difficult process to go through.

And I think what she has come up with is a very good compromise for us to get behind, and I support it entirely. Thank you, Mr. President."