Chapman says Spring primaries might generate larger turnout

By Scott Benjamin

NEW FAIRFIELD – Susan Chapman, the Republican candidate for Secretary of the State, says holding Connecticut’s primaries in “May or early June” might yield a larger voter turnout than the current system of having them in August.

Independent gubernatorial candidate Oz Griebel of Hartford, who ran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010, has said “it has become clear that August is not the time to have them” since so many residents are on vacation.

The primaries for the state and congressional offices were moved from September to August in 2004. A number of states hold them in the spring, reportedly because it generates a larger turnout and gives the candidates a longer period of time to campaign for the general election.

“I think it would be something to think about,” said Chapman, who served for four and a half years as first selectman of New Fairfield.

Apple sales executive Dominic Rapini of Branford, who sought the Republican U.S. Senate nomination this year, has said it would be best to abolish the state conventions that precede the primaries since candidates largely concentrate on interacting with the 1,100 delegates for the better part of a year after launching their campaigns and then have less than three months after the convention to concentrate on seeking support from rank and file party members.

“You spend an incredible amount of time with a small group [of convention delegates] that may be representative of the electorate,” he has said.

Chapman, who was unopposed at the Republican convention in May and was endorsed in August by the Independent Party at its convention, said the future of holding political conventions is “a conversation for the parties to have.”

Some elected officials, dating to proposals in the early 1970s by then-state House
Speaker Bill Ratchford (D-Danbury), have called for direct primaries, saying that the current system resembles clubhouse politics.

Over the years, the threshold for qualifying for a primary has been lowered from 20 percent to 15 percent of the delegates and candidates also can enter the primaries by getting at least two percent of the party members to sign a petition.

Chapman said in an interview that “it’s not a bad idea” to consider having a run-off between the top two vote-getters in a primary where no captures at least 50.1 percent of the vote.

This issue generated attention following the August Republican gubernatorial primary where Bob Stefanowski of Madison, the former General Electric and UBS financial executive, won a five-way contest with just over 29 percent of the vote. Some other states have run-off primaries in those circumstances.

Chapman will face two-term Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, a Hartford resident who formerly lived in Mansfield, where she was a state representative and served as majority leader at the time that she was nominated for statewide office.
Merrill annexed 51 percent of the vote in capturing a second term in 2014 over Republican Peter Lumaj of Fairfield who garnered 46.7 percent and Green Party nominee Mike DeRosa who collected 2.3 percent of the ballots.

The Republicans have not won the Secretary of the State’s office since former state Rep. Pauline Kezer of Plainville was elected in 1990. She served for one term after seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 1994.

Chapman said she is “not a fan” of open primaries in which unaffiliated voters would be allowed to vote.

The No Labels organization advocates open primaries because they would generate greater turnout and perhaps provide a broader based electorate. The organization has noted that unaffiliated voters do pay for the costs of holding the primaries through their taxes.

Chapman said, “You should have the right to put forward your candidate. The party members should choose the candidate” that will be the nominee in the general election.

On another topic, Chapman said she opposes early voting, which is in place in 34 other states, but not Connecticut, as well as the District of Columbia. Voters can without any excuse cast a ballot more than one day before the election.

“I think there are a lot of issues with it,” she said. “Things come up very close to the election that can may change how you decide to vote.”

Bill Bradbury, the former Secretary of the State in Oregon, has stated that early voting in that state has increased turnout and generated conversations on who to vote for among family members.

Chapman and her husband, Ken, who served in the Army, have one son who currently serves in the Army and another serving in the Air Force, and she wants to make it possible for electronic voting to be made available in Connecticut to people serving in the military, as some other states do.

“They can do everything electronically, but they can’t vote,” Chapman said. “The military is in all kinds of situations around the world.”

She said she would be interested in sponsoring forums to honor military veterans as former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown did during her 12-year tenure. Bysiewicz is now the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.

Chapman, who has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia, said she also wanted to have activities to encourage young people to register to vote.

The Washington Post has reported that former Democratic President Bill Clinton said in a 2003 speech at Georgetown University, his alma mater, that if people 30 and under voted at the same rate as those 55 and older, you would have a different U.S. Congress.

Chapman, who also formerly served as chairman of the New Fairfield Planning Commission and as an other member of the town’s Board of Selectmen, said she opposes former Democratic President Barack Obama’s call for mandatory voting in the United States.

Reportedly, 32 countries have it, including Australia, which has utilized it since 1924 and imposed a $20 fine on voters who don’t go to the polls. Business Insider has reported that Australia has a 79 percent turnout in national elections and it would be higher if the system was better enforced.

Belgium, which has mandatory voting, had an 87 percent turnout in its most recent national election.

CNN has reported that Obama said in 2015 that it “would be transformative if everybody voted – that would counteract money more than anything” since it would force candidates to devote more attention to voters who don’t vote in as large numbers under the current system, such as the young and the lower income.

CNN reported that nationwide only 37 percent of the eligible voters turned out for the 2014 midterm elections.

“I think it’s just another regulation,” Chapman said regarding mandatory voting. “I think it would be difficult to manage.”

“We’re a lot bigger than Australia, so it would be a much bigger program to implement,” she added.

On a separate subject, Chapman said that she is “not in favor” of the state’s same-day Election Day registration law, which took effect with the 2013 municipal elections.

“It’s a burden on our municipalities,” she said. She added that there is potential for voter fraud.

Merrill, who helped enact the same-day Election Day registration law during her first term has told CT Hearst that 3,000 voters utilized it in the 2013 municipal elections.

On another issue, Chapman said she’s against a proposal by U.S. Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) to make the Election Day a federal holiday. Delaney, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, stated in his recent book, “The Right Answer,” that the day should be a holiday since people shouldn’t have to miss time from work or stand in long lines on a work day to vote.

“I don’t know that making it a federal holiday will make more people get out and vote,” said Chapman.

She said perhaps there could be discussion of holding the voting on a Saturday when fewer people are working.

Chapman said she is against Merrill’s 2015 proposal to eliminate the positions of elected registrars of voters in the 169 municipalities and replace them with trained, non-partisan appointees.

Merrill has told CT Hearst that there was physical confrontation in Fairfield in 2014 and there were squabbles in Bridgeport during the 2010 election.

“I would not change the system we have,” Chapman declared. “They’re dedicated, they’re had working people. I don’t think people realize how much work they do.”

She said since entering the race in January she has spoken with many of the registrars of voters and the town clerks across the state.

Chapman said the 55 staff members in the Secretary of the State’s office would be about identical to what she managed as New Fairfield’s chief elected official.

“I managed many departments and worked with unions,” she said regarding her municipal duties. The town had an AAA bond rating, the highest possible, while she was in office.

Although, many people immediately associate the Secretary of the State’s office with elections and voter registration, it also registers businesses in the state.

Chapman said a central piece of her platform is to make Connecticut more “business-friendly.”

She said she agrees with former state Sen. Jamie McLaughlin (R-Darien), that Stefanowski’s appeal goes beyond his commitment to eliminating the state income tax, as voters also sense that “he doesn’t come across as a politician.”

Stefanowski is making his first run for public office.

“I think he really came off well in the second debate,” Chapman said of Stefanowki’s performance against Democratic nominee Ned Lamont of Greenwich in the forum that CT Realtors sponsored September 17 in New Haven.

She added, “I was really impressed with the way he presented the issues.”