Connecticut Enacts Public Act 26-42, Barring Federal or State Force Within 250 Feet of Election Sites

Connecticut enacted Public Act No. 26-42 — the chaptered version of Substitute House Bill No. 5001, “An Act Concerning Absentee Voting for All and Various Other Reforms” — when the Governor signed it on May 15, 2026, per the bill’s official action history (Signed by the Governor, 5/15/2026; the bill had been transmitted to the Governor that same day following the House’s concurrence vote on May 6). Section 57, a floor amendment (LCO No. 4526) not in the bill as introduced, is new law effective July 1, 2026. Confirmed directly from the enacted Public Act text (cga.ct.gov), Sec. 57(b) reads verbatim:

“(1) No officer or agent of any organization or entity authorized by the federal government or by any state to use force against, search, detain or arrest individuals, and no person authorized by the federal government or by any state to order, bring, keep or have under such person’s authority or control any such officer or agent, shall: (A) Knowingly be within two hundred fifty feet of any elections site, unless (i) the Governor deems such force necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States or of the state, (ii) in the case of any such search, detention or arrest, such officer, agent or person is acting in an official capacity, has given notice to the Secretary of the State and the Attorney General not less than twenty-four hours prior, and is authorized by a judicial warrant or order specific to that search, detention or arrest and that location, (iii) exigent circumstances reasonably require the presence of such officer, agent or person to protect against a serious threat to life or property, or (iv) the Secretary of the State or moderator requests such force to suppress disorder, or has given permission that has not been withdrawn; (B) Knowingly be within two hundred fifty feet of an elections site for the purpose of attempting to examine the qualifications to vote of any individual at such elections site; (C) Knowingly loiter or remain within two hundred fifty feet of an elections site; or (D) Engage in any conduct that would constitute a violation of 18 USC 592, 593 or 595, as amended from time to time.”

“Elections site” is defined in Sec. 57(a)(2) to include a polling place on election day, early-voting and same-day-registration locations, central absentee/early-voting ballot-counting sites, recanvass sites, and ballot drop boxes. The trigger is “authorized by the federal government or by any state” — reaching federal agents by name-equivalent formula without requiring a specific federal agency be named — and subsection (D) separately makes a violation of the federal troops-at-polls statute (18 U.S.C. §592) or the federal voter-intimidation/election-interference statutes (§§593, 595) independently a Connecticut state-law violation. Off-duty voting, off-duty political expression, merely passing through the zone, and residing within it are expressly carved out (Sec. 57(b)(2)). Enforcement is criminal: “Any person who violates any provision of subdivision (1) of this subsection shall be guilty of a class C felony and shall be disfranchised” (Sec. 57(b)(3)) — up to 10 years’ imprisonment and up to a $10,000 fine under Connecticut’s general felony schedule, plus loss of the right to vote or hold office. The same section separately criminalizes mask-wearing and ID demands within 250 feet of an elections site as class D felonies (Sec. 57(c), (d)).

Connecticut’s 250-foot buffer and its direct incorporation of 18 U.S.C. §592 make it the most comprehensive of four enacted 2026-cycle state statutes addressing armed or federal-agent presence at polling places, alongside California (2026-09-19–newsom-signs-sb884-protect-our-polls-act-arrest-restriction), New Mexico (2026-03-09–lujan-grisham-signs-sb264-bars-troops-ice-new-mexico-polling-places), and Rhode Island (2026-06-22–mckee-signs-h7434-bars-ice-200ft-rhode-island-polling-places).