Government Administration and Elections Committee
Appropriations Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING UNITED STATES SENATE VACANCIES
SUMMARY: This act eliminates the governor's power to fill U. S. Senate vacancies by appointment and instead requires a special election, with two exceptions. It authorizes the governor to (1) appoint a replacement if there are 50 or more U. S. Senate vacancies among the states and (2) nominate someone to fill a vacancy occurring during the last 14 months of a senator's term, which the General Assembly must confirm.
The act establishes a procedure for issuing the writs of election and holding the special election and specifies the process for selecting convention delegates to endorse a candidate, holding a convention, and holding a primary if someone challenges the party-endorsed candidate. Electors whose names appeared on the voter registry list compiled for the last regular election prior to the vacancy, or any supplementary list, are eligible to vote in the special election.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
SPECIAL ELECTIONS TO FILL VACANCIES
When a U. S. Senate vacancy occurred under prior law, the governor appointed a replacement. If there was sufficient time before the scheduled end of the term, a successor was elected at the next regular election, filling the office for the remainder of the term.
The act eliminates the governor's power to appoint a replacement in most circumstances. Instead it requires her to issue writs of election to town clerks or assistant town clerks within 10 days after a vacancy to fill it for the remainder of the term. With some exceptions, the special election must be held on the 150th day after the writs are issued, but not on a weekend. Senate-elect vacancies are filled in the same way as Senate vacancies.
Under the act, the governor's writs are conveyed to a state marshal who transmits an attested copy to town clerks or assistant town clerks. Several procedures are the same as those for state elections: the process clerks follow to notify electors of the election date; the way the special election is organized and conducted; and the way the vote is declared, certified, directed, deposited, returned, and transmitted.
Exceptions to the 150-Day Special Election Calendar
If the vacancy occurs more than 63, but less than 125, days before the next regular November state or municipal election, the governor must issue the writs on the 60th day before it and the special election to fill the vacancy must be held at the same time as the regular election. However, if it occurs after the municipal election in the year preceding the last year of a senator's term or during the last year of a senator's term, the governor nominates a replacement (see NOMINATION OR APPOINTMENT below), unless there are 62 days or less before a regular state election and the vacant U. S. Senate office will be on that ballot. In that case, the vacancy remains and there is no special election. This means, if the vacancy occurs 62 days or less before the next regular state election and the vacated office will not be on the ballot, the governor must issue the writs and a special election is held 150 days later to fill the remainder of the term.
NOMINATION OR APPOINTMENT TO FILL VACANCIES
The act addresses two circumstances under which a U. S. Senate vacancy in Connecticut would not be filled at an election. First, if the vacancy occurs after the municipal election in the year preceding the last year of a senator's term or during the last year of a senator's term, the governor nominates someone to fill it. The nomination must be (1) filed with the clerks of the state Senate and the House of Representatives and (2) approved by two-thirds of the membership of each chamber.
Second, in the event that 50 or more simultaneous U. S. Senate vacancies occur, including in Connecticut, the act authorizes the governor to fill the vacancy by appointment. If there is sufficient time before the scheduled end of the term, an election is held to elect a successor to fill the office until the end of the term. The calendar is the same as the one under prior law for gubernatorial appointments. If the vacancy occurs:
1. at least 150 days before a November state election, the appointee serves until the January 3 immediately following, and a replacement is elected at that election to serve the remaining portion of the vacated term, if any;
2. less than 150 days before a November state election and the vacated term does not expire the January 3 immediately following, the appointee serves until the January 3 following the next November municipal election, and a replacement is elected at the municipal election to serve the remaining portion of the vacated term, if any; or
3. less than 150 days before a state election and the vacated term expires January 3 immediately following, the appointee serves until that January 3.
CONVENTIONS, PARTY ENDORSEMENTS, AND PRIMARIES
As under prior law, the parties must hold a convention to endorse candidates to fill a U. S. Senate vacancy. For the purposes of a special election to fill a vacancy, the act changes the law on convention delegates and revises the deadlines for making party endorsements and holding primaries. Under the act, the convention must be held between the date when the vacancy occurs and 56 days before the date when a primary would occur (56 days before the election), whether or not one does. The endorsements are not effective until the presiding officer and secretary of the convention certify them to the secretary of the state.
Delegates to the convention are the same ones who served at the convention held for the previous state election. In the event of a vacancy in the delegation, the town committee in the former delegate's town fills it.
The act prohibits a primary from being held if a vacancy occurs between the 125th day and 63rd day before a regular November state or municipal election. Instead, the party-endorsed candidate is the party's nominee. In that case, the parties must make their endorsements by the 60th day before the election.
The act allows for a primary any other time a special election will take place to fill a vacancy. If a person challenges the endorsed candidate within 14 days after the party endorsement, a primary is held on the 56th day before the election.
The secretary of the state must make petition forms available on the day after the writs of election are issued. The process for obtaining the forms is the same as under current law. This means the secretary of the state must fill in identifying information on each petition form page and give the requestor petition pages that can be duplicated. If the candidate is indigent, the secretary must give the requestor a sufficient number of pages or as many as the person requests. Anyone requesting a petition form must give his or her name and address and the name, address, and office sought for each petition candidate, along with a consent statement signed by the candidate.
OLR Tracking: KS: JH: PF: TS