Opinion ID: 150474
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Qualification Criteria

Text: Candidates qualify for CEP funding by satisfying one of two types of qualifying criteriaone type for major party candidates and one type (with two subtypes) for minor party candidates. Under what we will refer to as the CEP's statewide qualifying criteria, candidates qualify for CEP funding if they are running on the ticket of a major party. See Conn. Gen.Stat. § 9-702(a). A major party is defined by the CEP as a party that either (a) had a candidate for governor in the last election who received at least 20% of the vote, or (b) has as members at least 20% of the registered voters in the state. See id. § 9-372(5). There are, and have been for some time, only two parties that have achieved major party status in Connecticut: the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Green Party II, 648 F.Supp.2d at 311. For candidates who are not running on the ticket of a major partythat is, for candidates who are running on the ticket of a minor party or who have no party affiliationthere are alternative ways of qualifying for CEP funding. Under what we will refer to as the CEP's single-election qualifying criteria, a minor-party candidate can qualify for funding in a specific race if a member of his or her party achieved a certain threshold percentage of the vote in the same race in the last election. See Conn. Gen.Stat. § 9-705(c)(1), (g)(1). A minor-party candidate can qualify for a full grant of CEP funding if a member of his or her party received 20% of the vote in the same race in the last election; a candidate can qualify for two-thirds of the full amount if a member of his or her party received 15% of the vote in the same race in the last election; and a candidate can qualify for one-third of the full amount if a member of his or her party received 10% of the vote in the same race in the last election. See id. Under what we will refer to as the petitioning criteria, minor-party candidates can also qualify for CEP funding by collecting a certain number of signatures of those eligible to vote in the race in which they are running. A minor-party candidate can receive a full CEP grant if he or she collects a number of eligible signatures equal to 20% of the votes cast in the same race in the last election; the candidate can receive two-thirds of the full amount if he or she collects a number of eligible signatures equal to 15% of the votes cast in the same race in the last election; and the candidate can receive one-third of the full amount if he or she collects a number of eligible signatures equal to 10% of the votes cast in the same race in the last election. See id. § 9-705(c)(2), (g)(2). Finally, all candidateswhether they qualify under the statewide criteria, the single-election criteria, or the petitioning criteriamust raise a specified amount of money through small qualifying contributions of $100 or less. See id. § 9-704. The required amount that candidates must raise varies depending on the office sought: candidates for governor, for instance, must raise $250,000 in qualifying contributions, whereas candidates for state representative must raise $5,000 in qualifying contributions. Id. § 9-704(a)(1), (4). Otherwise-qualified candidates do not receive CEP funding until they have raised the required qualifying contributions.