Paul Bass Photo
Jessica Rios of the city clerk’s office Tuesday upon completing Paca’s count.
New Haven voters will be able to choose between at least two candidates for mayor in at least one election this fall.
That’s because Marcus Paca has qualified for the Nov. 7 general election ballot as an unaffiliated candidate, in his quest to unseat two-term Mayor Toni Harp.
Jessica Rios reported to her boss, City Clerk Michael Smart, at around 3 p.m. Tuesday that she had verified 293 signatures of New Haven voters that Paca had collected on petitions to make that ballot. He needed only 122.
“This goes to show that democracy is not dead in our city,” Paca said. “But we have a lot more to do.”
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Paca last week at a party-bike campaign event.
Paca is also collecting signatures to have his name appear on the Sept. 12 Democratic Primary ballot. He needs a lot more verified signatures on petitions to do that — 1,852 signatures of registered Democrats. He said his campaign has collected “at least 2,600” signatures so far and hopes to break 3,000. (It usually takes collecting a lot more than the required number to succeed, since officials usually end up rejecting some, or many, signatures, depending on how carefully they were collected.) He and other candidates petitioning to have their names on the primary and general ballots have until 4 p.m. Thursday to turn in those petitions.
Thanks to a quirk of state law, two different city offices on the second floor of the 200 Orange St. municipal government building review petitions and certify whether candidates make the ballot. The Registrar of Voters Office has the big job: reviewing petitions for the primary ballot. The City Clerk’s Office has the more modest job: reviewing petitions for the general election ballot. Only 122 signatures are required to make the latter ballot for citywide positions. Candidates for alder need as few as three signatures in some wards.
As a result, a slew of alder candidates is submitting petitions to both offices so they’ll have two shots at winning this fall, in both the primary and general elections. In the past, Democratic primaries have been considered the real elections in New Haven since most voters are Democrats. However in recent years, as New Haven’s unaffiliated voter rolls have grown, some general election races have grown competitive, and more of these two-round contests have been developing.
According to the most recent available figures, the city now has a total of 54,216 active registered voters: 37,048 Democrats, 2,348 Republicans, 14,321 unaffiliated, and 499 minor-party members.
For instance, Ira Johnson (pictured), who hopes to make the ballot to run for clerk, left 200 Orange St. Tuesday with petitions for the general election. He said he has collected about 1,200 signatures so far to make the Democratic primary ballot, with only a bit more than 24 hours to go until the deadline. He said he plans to pursue the 122 signatures for the general election as a back-up.
Americo Carchia (pictured), who hopes to challenge party-endorsed probate judge candidate Clifton Graves Jr. in the Democratic primary, dropped off a batch of completed petitions and picked up more blank ones Tuesday in the Registrar of Voters office. He has concentrated on just the primary ballot, he said. So far he has collected around 2,100 or so signatures, he reported, so he was hustling to build the margin.
Paca is displaying an obvious illuminati (i.e. yale union) hand gesture in the picture above. Just what New Haven needs, more reptilian overlords.