A referendum regarding money put into the state’s special transportation fund will be on the ballot on Election Day in November.
But some Connecticut politicians and advocates are worried that voters may miss the question on the so-called lockbox.
The lockbox is supposed to safeguard money earmarked for transportation so that it can't be raided by the legislature for other uses.
“There is an overwhelming amount of people that are in support of this -- polling was like 75 percent -- but, you’ve got to make sure that people understand there is a question on that ballot and to make sure that they answer that ballot,” said Democratic state Representative Tony Guerrera.
Guerrera is referring to a poll of likely voters conducted by a group that supports the lockbox. Michael Cacace represented “Securing Connecticut’s Future” at the event. He said that 77 percent of those surveyed supported the measure.
But, he also said the last time a referendum item was on the ballot in 2014, 15 percent of the electorate voted for candidates on top of the ballot, but didn’t mark anything on the referendum.
Sen. Len Fasano, the Republican president of the state Senate, joined Guerrera at the rally to demonstrate bipartisan support for the lockbox.
“I think that it’s a long ballot -- you’ve got all the constitutional officers, the governor, state senators, state reps, probably some other local things there -- and at the very end, they’ve got to read the question, know the issue, and vote yes,” Fasano said. “I think that’s kind of a tough thing to do.”
If the referendum succeeds, revenue generated from things like the gas tax and licensing fees that’s placed into the special transportation fund would be kept in a lockbox and be earmarked solely for transportation projects.
Copyright 2018 Connecticut Public Radio