Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz today officially a letter of resignation from State Senator Thomas Gaffey of Meriden. Senator Gaffey won re-election to office in the 13h State Senate district and has resigned his status as member-elect and will not be sworn into office today as the new legislative session begins. Secretary Bysiewicz has informed the Governor and Governor-elect that there is a vacancy in the 13th State Senate District as of today, January 5, 2011. Under state law, Governor-elect Dan Malloy will have until January 15, 2011 to issue a Writ of Special Election to choose Senator Gaffey’s successor to represent constituents in the 13th State Senate district. That special election must be held 46 days after the writ of Special Election is issued.
“I have received Senator Gaffey’s letter of resignation as a member-elect of the General Assembly and this creates a vacancy effective today,” said Secretary Bysiewicz. “Senator Gaffey will not be sworn in to serve another 2-year term today and therefore this office has notified Governor Rell and Governor-elect Malloy of Senator Gaffey’s resignation and the vacancy it has created. As soon as the governor issues the Writ of Special Election, we will notify election officials in the towns comprising the 13th Senate district of when the special election will take place to choose the new Senator.”
The 13th State Senate district covers the city of Meriden and the town of Middlefield, and parts of Middletown and Cheshire. 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.
