Dems and GOP candidates facing tough primary elections in Connecticut

Candidates for the Democratic and Republican gubernatorial primaries: (From Left) Ned Lamont (D), Dan Malloy (D), Tom Foley (R), Michael Fedele (R), and Nelson “Oz” Griebel (R) Editor’s note: Leading up to this November’s elections, Tribuna will feature a series of stories, profiles and interviews with candidates for governor and lieutenant governor and open seats in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House. In this issue, we focus on the upcoming primary elections for governor and lieutenant governor. S Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz has launched a multi-media public awareness

Connecticut State Capital campaign, urging voters in Connecticut to “Affiliate and Participate” in statewide primaries scheduled for August 10, 2010.

If recent voter registration trends in the state hold, unaffiliated voters will soon outnumber registered Democrats and Republicans combined. According to Pollster.com, as of late last year, independents accounted for 42.5 percent of registered voters in the state, with only 36.8 percent registered Democrat and 20 percent registered Republican.

Connecticut has closed primaries – only registered party members who have declared their party affiliation can vote in a primary election.

Voters must choose only one ballot. In open primaries, all voters receive the same ballot, which contains the candidates’ names from all political parties.

This means that nearly half of all registered voters in Connecticut will be ineligible to vote in the major party primaries, whose nominees will therefore be decided by a small fraction of the state’s residents.

“I urge Connecticut’s 840,000 unaffiliated voters – the largest group of our state’s nearly 2 million active registered voters – to enroll with the Democratic or Republican parties so they can cast ballots and make sure their voices are heard in the primaries,” Bysiewicz said during a press conference on June 13, joined by Connecticut Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo and Connecticut Republican Party Vice Chair Cathe-rine Marx; Tony Esposito, President of the Re-gistrars of Voters Association; and representatives from the Connecticut Town Clerks Association; the Connecticut Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; the African American Affairs Commission; and the Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission.

In taped messages that are already airing on television and radio, Bysiewicz is urging those voters to enroll with the Democratic or Republican parties by noon on August 9 if they want to vote in the primaries.

Bysiewicz’s TV and radio Public Service Announcements were launched with the partnership of Comcast Cable, Inc. and numerous Connecticut radio stations and it is estimated that the messages will be seen or heard by hundreds of thousands of voters.

Primaries for Democratic and Republican races will be held August 10. Only voters registered with one of the two parties can vote in primaries. You can register at a town clerk’s office until noon on August 9.

The numbers

According to recent polling, the primary races are still up in the air. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted July 7-13 shows businessman Ned Lamont leads former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy 46 percent to 37 percent for the gubernatorial nomination, with 1 percent preferring someone else and 16 percent undecided.

On the Republican side, former U.S. ambassador Tom Foley polls 48 percent to 13 percent for Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele and 7 percent for Oz Griebel (head of the MetroHartford Alliance (Hartford’s Chamber of Commerce), with nearly one-third – 32 percent – undecided.

On August 10, both parties will select their final nominees for the November ballots.

Both of the Democrats seeking the party’s gubernatorial nomination in Connecticut – Ned Lamont and Dan Malloy – run ahead of potential Republican opponents in general election match-ups.

Lamont leads Foley, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, by 45 percent to 33 percent with 5 percent preferring someone else or not planning to vote and 17 percent undecided.

Lamont leads among independent voters by 41 percent to 28 percent, with the rest preferring someone else, not planning to vote or undecided.

Malloy leads Foley 44 percent to 33 percent with 4 percent preferring someone else or not planning to vote and 19 percent undecided. He leads among independents 39 percent to 32 percent.

Lamont and Malloy lead the other two GOP contenders – Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele and Oz Griebel – by 22 points or more.

The bottom line? If you are among the nearly one million voters that are not registered with either party, now is the time to register and to have your voice heard in this important election.

As the numbers show, the primary races could turn out entirely differently depending upon the choices made by unregistered or undecided voters. It’s up to you to affiliate and participate!