Judge to ponder possibility of special election in New London
New London — A Superior Court judge has asked for more information before he rules on an injunction request that could lead to a special election for Democratic Town Committee members in the second voting district.
Resident Jason Morris this week filed a motion in Superior Court against Democratic Registrar William Giesing after the 37 signatures he gathered in support of six petitioning candidates for the committee were not accepted.
Because the signatures were not accepted, the six petitioning candidates were 16 votes short of the 127 needed to force a primary against the people endorsed by the Democratic Town Committee at a caucus on Jan. 12.
Attorney Daryl Justin Finizio, who is representing Morris, said Morris was not aware of a state rule that dictates petition circulators cannot have changed their party affiliation within 90 days preceding the petition drive.
Morris was previously a Green Party member and switched affiliation after the election in November.
Finizio argues that the signatures should be accepted anyway, not only because Giesing initially signed off on the list but to protect the rights of voters.
Finizio, the former mayor, and attorney Jeffrey Londregan met with Judge Timothy Bates behind closed doors for about 40 minutes on Monday.
Bates emerged to announce he wanted official notices to be sent to the 17 endorsed candidates who would be impacted by a primary election.
He also asked for legal briefs from the two sides to be filed by the end of the week.
Bates also indicated he has the authority to move election deadlines associated with what would normally be a March 1 primary.
Finizio said he was encouraged by the judge’s questions.
“The rights of the people who signed the petition should be upheld,” Finizio said. “We feel we have a very strong constitutional argument.”
Finizio cited a Jan. 27 federal court decision, the ACLU and the Libertarian Party vs. The Secretary of the State, in which Chief District Judge Janet Hall ruled that Connecticut law restricting who can circulate nominating petitions placed a “severe burden” on the federal free speech and voting rights of the plaintiffs.
In the event of a primary, voters in District 2 would have the opportunity to cast ballots for endorsed candidates and the six petitioning candidates.
The six petitioning candidates for the Democratic Town Committee in District 2 are: Shirley Zaccheo, Timothy Sparen, Daniel Burnett, Tambria Moore, Nancy Anglin and Alex Velez.
Party endorsed candidates are: Margaret Mary Curtin, Jason Catala, Patrick Day, Rob Funk, George Grabel, Scott Garbini, Ricky J. Free, Mary Minton, Thomas Murphy, Sean Patrick Murray, Aracelis Vazquez Haye, George Potts, Steven Schneidemeyer, Ann Stewart, Michael Tranchida, Earl Wilson and Sheryl Durant. Endorsed candidates William Giustini, William Morse and state Rep. Ernest Hewett, D-New London, were not certified as candidates because they did not sign the party endorsement form.
At the time of the Democratic caucus there were 7,187 registered Democrats in the city: 3,247 in District 1, 2,539 in District 2 and 1,401 in District 3, city records show.
Bates set a new hearing date for 2 p.m. on Feb. 8.
Twitter: @SmittyDay
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