ELECTION INFO: SECRETARY OF STATE
Phone: (860) 509-6100
STATE-ISTICS: STATE INFORMATION
CONNECTICUT STATE LAWS

Help us Qualify to be a Minor Party in Connecticut

Email us if you are interested: We need 25 Connecticut registered voters to form America's Third Party designation committee.

Minor Party Qualifications:

File written statement signed by at least twenty-five electors who desire to be members of such party designation committee [9-453u]
File Party rules with Secretary of State [9-374]
General ballot access for minor party candidates: Party submits nomination directly to the Secretary of State 62 days before the general election [9-452]
To Continue Minor Party Status: Received 1% of votes cast for president in the previous election [9-372(6)]

General ballot access for unrecognized party and independent candidates:

Petition: Cannot start petition until Election Year: 1% of turnout at last presidential election or 7,500 signatures, whichever is less (for presidential candidates, this will usually be the latter) [9-453(d)]
Deadline: 90th day before the general election [9-453i, 9-405, 9-423]

Major party qualifications:

For purpose of the presidential primary only, “party”means political party with the largest or second largest
enrollment in the state [9-463(6)]

Primary ballot access:

1. Secretary of State
Selects candidates based on “general and serious
advocacy or recognition,” meaning media attention,
active campaigning, etc. Liberal interpretation is
used [9-465]
Announcement of selection is made at 10 am the
74th day before the primary [9-466]
No filing fees
2. Petition (for those not selected)
Issued beginning 12 noon on the 74th day before
the primary [9-467]
Petition: 1% of registered party voters (for
Democrats, this is approximately 6,300 signatures;
for Republicans: 4,300 signatures) [9-469]
Deadline: 4 pm on the 46th day before the
primary [9-468]
Last day for replacement on the ballot: 10 days
before the election

Primary date: first Tuesday in March

[9-464]

Participation: Closed primary

Voter registration:

5 days before the primary by
mail; 12 noon the day before the primary in person; 14
days before the general election
There is a 3 month waiting period to change party affiliation.

Source:
The Reform Institute (December 2003). Presidential Ballot Access: State by State Scorecard. Retrieved November 10, 2008, from https://www.policyarchive.org/bitstream/handle/10207/5646/2003scorecard.....

Write-In Information

By October 21, 2008, the write-in presidential candidate must file the following with Connecticut Secretary of State, Legislative & Elections Administrative Division:

1) A “Registration Of Write-In Candidacy For President/Vice-President” form. The Elections Division said that the candidate can use as many copies of the form as he or she needs to give to the various electors and to the vice-presidential candidate. When sending them all in to the Elections Dept., the forms should just be all stapled together.

Send to:
Secretary of the State
Legislative & Elections Administrative Division
30 Trinity Street, P.O. Box 150470
Hartford CT 06115-0470

Source:
Frank Moore (May 8, 2008). US Presidential Write-In Candidate Requirements For Each State. Retrieved November 10, 2008, from http://www.writein2008.blogspot.com/