Opinion ID: 457052
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Connecticut's Primary Election System

Text: 9 Pursuant to Connecticut law, potential candidates for electoral office are divided into three categories: those representing major parties, those of minor parties, and independents (or petitioning parties). 1 By virtue of its performance in past gubernatorial elections, the Republican Party is a major party. As such, its candidates are automatically accorded space on the general election ballot, while other candidates may have their names placed on the ballot only after fulfilling the petition requirements set forth in Secs. 9-453a through 9-453u. 2 Conn.Gen.Stat. Sec. 9-379. 10 In 1955, the Connecticut General Assembly enacted a challenge primary law, codified as Conn.Gen.Stat. Secs. 9-372 et seq., which authorizes each major party to select candidates to be nominated for electoral office. Party endorsements are made at state or district conventions, and only enrolled party members may vote to select those delegates who attend the convention. Id. Secs. 9-387, 9-390, 9-407. If a candidate is not opposed at the convention, he becomes the party's nominee in the general election and no primary election is held. Id. Secs. 9-408, 9-409. A candidate rejected by the convention, however, is eligible to challenge the endorsed candidate in a primary election if he has received on any roll call convention vote at least twenty percent of the votes of the delegates present and voting, and files a document with the Secretary of the State certifying that he has garnered the requisite vote total. Id. Sec. 9-400. Party primaries are held at the expense of the State, and the primaries for all major political parties in Connecticut are held on the same day, during the same hours and at the same polling places. Separate voting machines are used for each party on primary day. 11 Mindful of these aspects of Connecticut's primary election apparatus, we turn to the voting eligibility requirements, which constitute the crux of the instant appeal. Section 9-431 of the Connecticut General Statutes provides, in pertinent part: 12 No person shall be permitted to vote at a primary of a party unless he is on the last-completed enrollment list of such party in the municipality or voting district.... 13 To enroll in a political party, a person must execute an application for enrollment form, requiring him to state his name, address, desired party affiliation, previous party affiliations within the past six months and the date on which he applied to remove his name from the membership list of the political party with which he was previously affiliated. Party enrollment lists are a matter of public record, Id. Sec. 9-55, and Connecticut does not require lists of unaffiliated voters to be available at the polls on primary day. Connecticut Public Act 84-118, which became effective on January 1, 1985, allows an unaffiliated voter to participate in a party's primary election if he enrolls in that party prior to twelve o'clock noon on the last business day before the primary. Id. Secs. 9-56, 9-57. Finally, a voter enrolled in a party may at any time apply to have his name removed from that party's enrollment list, and to transfer to the enrollment list of another party. He may not, however, vote in any primary for six months following the date of his application for transfer. Id. Sec. 9-59. 14