MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' MOTION ...
MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' MOTION ...
MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' MOTION ...
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state’s 151 Assembly seats. 5In these offices, whether it is for mayor of Hartfordrepresenting 121,578 residents or a single-town Hartford house seat, representingapproximately 21,000 residents – candidates have two paths to the ballot. They cansolicit the town committee or local party caucus endorsement, § 9-390, or they have theopportunity to file petitions with the signatures of 5% of the party’s registered voters inthe district. § 9-405, 9-406. From the view of political activists and candidates inConnecticut, the 5% petitioning requirement is significant enough to keep frivolouscandidates off the ballot, but it is not burdensome for a serious challenger. See, e.g.,Rapoport Decl at 19 (describing his petition campaign to get on the primary ballot tochallenge a Democratic party leader in House District 18 in 1984); Caplan Decl. at 5(describing his work with candidates conducting petition campaigns in the late 1980s). Itis a simple requirement, easily understood by candidates and voters.2. Primary Ballot Access in Multi-Town DistrictsBy stark comparison, candidates seeking ballot status in statewide or multi-townraces face a series of difficult and often insurmountable hurdles just to obtain ballotstatus. The multi-town districts not only include all federal and statewide offices, butalso for instance, a Darien state House district that happens to cross the border to take ina small portion of Norwalk. See Redistricting Report (House District 141). UnderConnecticut law, candidates in these multi-town districts must compete for and win at5 Until re-apportionment following the 2000 census, the Senate had one single-town seatfor 20 years. Until 1980, five of the Senate’s 36 seats were single-town seats. In theAssembly, from 1972-1980, 83 of the 151 districts represented single-towns. From 1982-90, there were 82 single-town districts, from 1992-2000, 72, and, for the next 10 years,beginning with the 2002 election, there will be 77 single-town districts. See McLoughlinDecl. at 6; 2001 Redistricting Maps (available athttp://www.cga.state.ct.us/red/maps.htm).6