Joe Visconti
Joe Visconti, Harris will be on the ballot
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill announced that her office approved the nominating petition of Joe Visconti to appear on the November ballot for the office of governor, and the petition of Chester Frank Harris to appear on the ballot for the office of lieutenant governor.
The number of petition signatures of registered voters required to appear on the ballot for these offices is 7,500.
Petitioning candidates for the November ballot had until Aug. 6 to file their petitions with local town clerks or with the office of the secretary of the state.
Town clerks have two weeks from the date of receipt of each petition page to file them with the secretary of the state. However, if petitions are turned in to the secretary of the state, those petitions are then transmitted to local town clerks, who in turn have two weeks from the date of receipt from this office to file the counted petitions.
The role of the office of the secretary of the state in this process is not to examine signatures for validity, but rather to tally the signatures marked as valid by each town in order to produce a statewide or district-wide total number of valid petition signatures. A running tally of signatures is not announced; once a candidate has met the required threshold for that office, a letter of notification is sent to that candidate.
Jonathan Pelto (Hugh McQuaid photo)
Jonathan Pelto will not be on November ballot
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill has informed third-party candidate hopeful Jonathan Pelto that his name will not be on the November ballot.
Mr. Pelto circulated petitions for nomination to the offices of governor and/or lieutenant governor. He wanted to run as a member of the Education & Democracy Party.
In a letter dated Aug. 29, she informed him petitions signed by a mandatory minimum number of qualified voters had not been filed with her office by the deadline of Aug. 6.
“Accordingly, your proposed nomination … is disapproved,” Ms. Merrill’s letter stated.
Tim Herbst
Tim Herbst cross-endorsed
Tim Herbst, Republican candidate for state treasurer, received the cross-endorsement of the Connecticut Independent Party.
“I am thrilled to have earned the endorsement of Connecticut’s Independent Party for the office of state treasurer,” said Mr. Herbst. “This state is in real trouble and the voters I talk to day in and day out are looking for someone to stand up and be the firewall.
“This state is spending too much, taxing too much, and borrowing too much,” he said. “These are problems that we can’t tax or invest our way out of.
“I will pursue comprehensive reform and real transparency to restore the voters’ trust and turn the state’s finances around,” Mr. Herbst said. “I am grateful for the support of the Independent Party and look forward to campaigning alongside them and Connecticut Republicans in the coming weeks.”