Press Releases
02/14/2020
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill Announces List of Candidates Placed on Connecticut’s Presidential Preference Primary Ballot
Connecticut’s Presidential Preference Primary will be held on Tuesday April 28th
HARTFORD - Secretary of the State Denise Merrill today announced the names of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates who will appear on the ballot in Connecticut’s April 28th primary election.
“In an election cycle that started almost two years ago, we are finally in the home stretch,” said Secretary Merrill. “Although the deadline to switch from one party to another has passed, new voters and unaffiliated voters can go to myvote.ct.gov/register and register online by April 23rd, or go to their town hall to register in person by noon on April 27th. Connecticut voters will have many candidates to choose between in the April 28th primaries, all that is left to do is get out there and vote!”
The following Democratic candidates were selected to appear on the ballot (listed in alphabetical order):
Joe Biden
Michael Bloomberg
Pete Buttigieg
Tulsi Gabbard
Amy Klobuchar
Bernie Sanders
Tom Steyer
Elizabeth Warren
The following Republican candidates were selected to appear on the ballot (listed in alphabetical order):
Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente
Donald Trump
Bill Weld
Those candidates will be notified by registered mail with return receipt requested. Candidates may request that their names be omitted from the ballot as long as they make a request in writing by 12:00pm on March 23rd.
The Secretary of the State places the names of candidates on the ballot, if she determines that the “candidacy of such person for such party’s nomination for President is generally and seriously advocated or recognized by reports in the national or state news media.”
Candidates who were not selected today can still get on the ballot by filing petitions with at least 1% of active registered voters of their party (7,979 for Democrats and 4,582 for Republicans). Petitions will be available today at 12:00pm, and must be turned in to the town Registrar of Voters by 4:00pm on March 6th.
The Secretary will publicly determine the Presidential Preference Primary ballot order for both parties’ primaries on March 24th.
BACKGROUND:
9-465 requires the Secretary of the State to place on the ballot any candidate where “the candidacy of such person for such party's nomination for President is generally and seriously advocated or recognized according to reports in the national or state news media.”
9-466 requires that selection to be made publicly at 10:00am on “the seventy-fourth day preceding the day of the primary” or February 14th 2020, and allows those candidates to withdraw via written request by noon on the “thirty-sixth day before the primary” or March 23rd.
9-467 requires the Secretary of the State to make petitions available at noon on February 14th.
9-468 requires petitions to be turned in to the registrars of the towns by 4:00pm on “the fifty-third day preceding the day of the primary” or March 6th 2020, and requires the registrars to verify the petition pages and forward the verified pages to the Secretary by 4:00 pm on “the forty-ninth day preceding the day of the primary” or March 10th 2020.
9-469 requires the Secretary of the State to tabulate the petition signatures and determine if any candidates have submitted a number of signatures equal to at least 1% of the registered members of that party by “the forty-sixth day preceding the day of the primary” or March 13th 2020.
9-470 requires the Secretary of the State to publicly determine the ballot order by lot on “the thirty-fifth day preceding the day of the primary” or March 24th.
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