Mayoral Hopefuls Start Petition Scramble

Jeffrey Kerekes Tuesday found out that he collected more than the 104 certified signatures he needed to land a spot on the ballot for the November general election. That was the easy part. Now comes the tougher test, in which he and fellow mayoral candidates need to collect over 2,000 signatures in just two weeks to make it to the Democratic primary—a threshold 20 times higher.

 

The Democratic Town Committee voted Tuesday to endorse Mayor John DeStefano in his quest for a record 10th term. So DeStefano’s name will appear in the top line on the Sept. 13 primary ballot. The campaigns DeStefano’s three would-be challengers plan to hit the streets Wednesday to petitioning in hopes of having their names appear on the primary ballot, too.

 

It’s a short-term, challenging quest for the campaigns of outsiders with little cash. The rules, which have been that way as long as anyone can remember, are determined by state law. Several candidates called the process unfair, especially given the short window of time to collect the signatures. Some longtime Democrats defended the rules as a good test of a candidate’s viability. However, no one could explain why the threshold is 20 times higher for the primary than the general election.

 

Kerekes, Clifton Graves, and former Aldermen Tony Dawson and Robert Lee are all entering the game of Mayoral Candidate Survivor: To make it on the primary ballot, they need to get signatures equal to 5 percent of registered Democrats across New Haven. The test may thin out the candidate field, as it did in 2009, when mayoral contender Jim Newton failed to make the primary ballot.

 

“Our campaign is at a crossroads,” Graves said this week. “This is put up or shut up, and get out and get the signatures.”

 

As of the latest count, candidates need 2,094 signatures to get on the primary ballot. And they need to do it by 4 p.m. Aug. 10.

 

Campaigns generally assume they need far more than the minimum, since some signatures get rejected in the certification process.

 

“It’s really kind of crazy,” Kerekes said of the challenge ahead. “It’s geared obviously toward the incumbent.”

 

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