Now it’s Aug. 11.
That’s when the state plans to hold its presidential primary.
By then, the hope is, people won’t feel a need to decide between voting and risking their lives through exposure Covid-19.
And the state can save some money.
Originally the state’s presidential primary was scheduled to take place April 28. Gov. Ned Lamont postponed it until June 2 because of the pandemic shutdown.
On Friday afternoon he announced that he’s signing an executive order to postpone the primary again until the August date.
“To protect the health and safety of voters, poll workers, and the most vulnerable populations, it just makes most sense to extend the date out to August,” Lamont is quoted saying in a release issued by his office.
Besides the health risks, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill was concerned about the cost of fielding so many poll workers in every town for what are in practice uncontested presidential primaries. Even though Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard and Elizabeth Warren have halted their presidential campaigns, leaving Joe Biden the unchallenged presumptive nominee, they failed to file papers with Connecticut withdrawing their names from the ballot. Similarly, state Republican leaders have tried to convince gadfly candidate Rocky De La Fuente to withdraw from the primary against incumbent Donald Trump, to no avail.
On Aug. 11, the state has already scheduled primaries for other offices, so there will no longer be a need for a separate primary date.
The Democrats had planned to hold a national nominating convention July 13 – 16, which would have prevented Connecticut from waiting until Aug. 17 for the primary. But the pandemic led the party to postpone that event as well.
“This date change will allow us to make it easier to protect the health and safety of voters and local election officials, prepare for the anticipated increase in demand for absentee ballots, save towns money, and let voters make their voices heard in the presidential primary process, all by holding one primary instead of two,” Merrill is quoted as saying in the same release.
This is good for my potential challenge to Senator Looney!