The office of the Secretary of the State has sent this out to local officials throughout the state referring to the withdrawl of conservative guns-rights candidate for governor Joe Visconti 11th hour call to back Republican Tom Foley for governor.
“To all Registrars of Voters and Town Clerks:
These instructions are being issued pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes §9-3 which states, “The Secretary of the State, by virtue of the office, shall be the Commissioner of Elections of the state, with such powers and duties relating to the conduct of elections as are prescribed by law and, unless otherwise provided by state statute, the secretary’s regulations, declaratory rulings, instructions and opinions, if in written form, shall be presumed as correctly interpreting and effectuating the administration of elections and primaries under this title, except for chapter 155, provided nothing in this section shall be construed to alter the right of appeal provided under the provisions of chapter 54.”
As you may be aware, the press reported that Mr. Joe Visconti has suspended his campaign for Governor over the weekend. To be clear, Mr. Visconti has NOT filed a letter of WITHDRAWAL with our office. As such, his name must remain on the ballot, and the absentee ballots, polling place ballots and sample ballots should not be altered in any way, and such alteration would be contrary to law. See Connecticut General Statutes Secs. 9-354, 9-355, 9-364a. Sanctions for these violations are serious, and could include fines and/or imprisonment.
In addition, only information prescribed by law shall be posted in any polling place (such as the Constitutional Amendment posters, Voter’s Bill of Rights and HAVA posters). This means no additional information about a candidate’s status may be posted in a privacy booth or at the polls. Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 9-236b.
For those voters who have cast an absentee ballot, they can either: (1) appear before the town clerk by 10:00 a.m. on Election Day morning (Tuesday, November 4, 2014) to withdraw their ballot and vote in person at the polling place (C.G.S. 9-159o) or (2) request an additional ballot from the town clerk no later than today (November 3, 2014) using application form ED-3A (C.G.S. 9-153b).
Please also be sure that you educate your moderators and poll workers regarding this matter to ensure that they do not add additional commentary to the voting process about this issue. You should distribute this memo to them so that they may refer to it as needed. All poll workers need to remain non-partisan in their Election Day service.
You should report Mr. Visconti’s vote totals to our office at the close of the polls.
Peggy Reeves and Ted Bromley
Elections Division
Office of the Secretary of the State