Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz received on Monday officially a letter of resignation from State Representative Christopher Caruso of Bridgeport. Representative Caruso won re-election to office in the 126th General Assembly district and has resigned his status as member-elect. As such, the vacancy for the 126th General Assembly District will occur on January 5, 2011 and under state law, Governor-elect Dan Malloy will have until January 15, 2011 to issue a Writ of Special Election to choose Representative Caruso’s successor to represent constituents in the 126th General Assembly District. That special election must be held 46 days after the writ of Special Election is issued.
“I have received Representative Christopher Caruso’s letter of resignation as a member-elect of the General Assembly and this will create a vacancy the day all state lawmakers are sworn in for their new terms,” said Secretary Bysiewicz. “Representative Caruso will not be sworn in to serve another 2-year term on Wednesday January 5th. My office has notified Governor Rell and Governor-elect Malloy of Representative Caruso’s resignation. As soon as the governor issues the Writ of Special Election, we will notify election officials in Bridgeport when the special election will take place to choose the new representative in the 126th General Assembly District.”
The 126th General Assembly district covers part of Bridgeport. According to Connecticut state law, major parties have until 36 days prior to the special election to endorse candidates. Petitioning candidates have eight days after the Writ of Special Election is issued to turn in signatures to get on the ballot. In order to qualify to get on the ballot, petitioning candidates must turn in a number of signatures equivalent to 1% of the total number of voters who cast ballots for that seat in the previous election, and signatures must be from registered voters in the district.
