Election2010

With a couple of close calls near the deadline, it seems that all the statewide office candidates that wanted to participate in the program have met fundraising criteria.

We applaud the Courant for conducting and making these interviews public. We note a strong emphasis on the elections role of the Secretary of the State (SOTS) – too often we have seen an emphasis by candidates on the business registration aspects of the job. The strong concerns of the Editorial Board seem to be saving money in election administration and increasing turnout. We note however, a shortage of questions and concern on voting integrity, ballot access, serving those with disabilities, and the education of election officials.

Given the time constraints and the alternatives to learning about the candidates, it was a very useful event. Much more informative than the single candidate speaking event. More relevant than the stiffer highly public televised “debates” with canned questions from the mainstream media. There was a lively discussion of a wide range of relevant issues. We would like to see more events like this, with more time for questions, more of the public present and engaged – with all the candidates welcome.

The Democratic Convention chose Denise Merrill. Jonathan Harris and Gerry Garcia both received over the 15% of votes to qualify for a primary.

The Republican Convention chose Jerry Farrell. Corey Brinson also received over 15%. UPDATE: May 24: Brinson will not primary. And Tim Reynolds drops primary bid for Democratic Controller.

We tend to agree that it should be illegal. Sounds as bad or worse than some of the things that ACORN was only accused of doing.