Connecticut local trial court judicial elections, 2016
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Two probate court seats were up for special election in Connecticut on November 8, 2016. A partisan primary was held on August 9, 2016, after petitioning candidates filed sufficient signatures to challenge the party nominations made at convention.
Both of these special elections were triggered by upcoming mandatory retirements of sitting judges. Connecticut law requires judges to retire at the age of 70. Judges Sydney Elkin and Joseph Egan Jr. turned 70 years old in October 2016. Both judges had won terms expiring in January 2019 in the 2014 general election. The winners of these elections were elected to serve the remainder of those terms. The 2018 general election determined the next full-term officeholders for both seats.
Races
2nd Probate District: West Hartford Probate District
West Hartford Probate District Judge Sydney Elkin turned 70 years old in October 2016. State law requires judges to retire at 70, which created a vacancy in Elkin's seat. The special election determined the officeholder until the end of Elkin's term on January 9, 2019.[1]
General election
The Republican Party did not nominate a candidate for the seat, and no Republicans petitioned for a primary. As no independent candidates filed for the race either, Democratic nominee and primary winner Owen Eagan was unopposed in November.
Primary election
Eagan was nominated as the Democratic Party's candidate for the seat by convention. Michael Croll filed 1,016 signatures to challenge Eagan in a Democratic primary race; only 944 signatures were needed to hold the election. Anita Schepker had also sought the party's nomination at convention, but she did not file petitions after Eagan's nomination. Eagan won the primary race, securing his place on the general election ballot.[1]
☑ Owen Eagan 
(Convention nominee)
☐ Michael Croll (Petitioning candidate)
45th Probate District: Northern Fairfield Probate District
Northern Fairfield Probate District Judge Joseph Egan Jr. turned 70 years old in October 2016. State law requires judges to retire at 70, which created a vacancy in Egan's seat. The special election determined the officeholder until the end of Egan's term on January 8, 2019.[2]
General election
☐ Jennifer Collins (Independent petitioning candidate)
☑ Daniel O'Grady 
(Republican primary winner)
☐ Sharon Wicks Dornfeld (Democratic convention nominee)
Primary election
Four Republicans—Jennifer Collins, Daniel O'Grady, Moira Rodgers, and Patrick J. Walsh—sought their party's nomination to run for the 45th Probate District vacancy at the convention in May 2016. With 31 delegates voting, a candidate had to receive 16 votes to meet the 15 percent threshold requirement and be named the official nominee. The party's delegates could not reach the necessary consensus on the matter, and so the candidacy was determined by a party primary instead. In order to run in the primary, the candidates had to file petitions. Only O'Grady and Walsh filed and competed in the August race. O'Grady won the primary, advancing to be his party's nominee in the general election.[3]
No Democratic primary was held as the party made a nomination by convention, and no petition challenges were made to the Democratic convention choice.
☑ Daniel O'Grady (Petitioning candidate)
☐ Patrick J. Walsh (Petitioning candidate)
Election rules
- See also: Partisan elections
Judges of the Connecticut Probate Courts are the only judges in the state to be chosen in partisan elections. They serve four-year terms that begin on the Wednesday after the first Monday in January following their election. At the end of their terms, judges must compete in contested re-elections if they wish to retain their seats.[4][5][6]
Qualifications
To serve on the probate court, a judge must be:[4]
- a resident of the probate district;
- over the age of 18; and
- under the age of 70 (retirement at 70 is mandatory).
Connecticut utilizes a system of partisan nominations, primaries, and independent petitioning to garner candidates for partisan offices, including probate judges. There are several routes by which candidates could get on the ballot, which varied depending on the political affiliation of the candidate seeking office.
Convention nomination
The first way major party candidates appear on the ballot is to receive the nomination of their political party during the endorsement period, which was May 3, 2016, to May 24, 2016. These endorsements were made by convention of the local party members, and the candidates had to receive at least 15 percent of the votes cast by convention delegates to be nominated. Those nominations had to be certified by the 14th day after the local convention was completed.[7]
Minor parties that were qualified for the board races were also able to endorse candidates. The deadline for minor parties to endorse candidates was July 8, 2016. The following parties had statewide enrollment privileges in Connecticut as of February 11, 2016: Green Party, Connecticut Independent Party, Libertarian Party, and Working Families Party.[8]
Primary petition
If a candidate who wished to run for a major political party did not receive the party's endorsement, he or she was required to file a primary petition to oppose the endorsed candidate by June 7, 2016. In order for the petition to be deemed sufficient and a primary election to be held, the petitioner was required to submit valid signatures totaling 1 percent of the votes cast for the same office at the previous election for that office or 7,500, whichever was smaller.
Independent petitioning
Candidates who wished to run without a party affiliation had to file in a similar manner to candidates with a partisan affiliation. They had to meet the same signature requirements as partisan petitioning candidates but did not have to run in a primary election.
Write-in candidates
The deadline for write-in candidates to file for the general election was October 25, 2016. Write-in candidates could not designate an affiliation with a political party, and no candidate who was nominated by a major or minor party or by petition could run as a write-in candidate.[9]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Connecticut judicial election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hartford Courant, "Primary Set For Two West Hartford Democrats Seeking Probate Judge Position," June 20, 2016
- ↑ The Newtown Bee, "Daniel O’Grady Captures Regional Probate Seat," August 10, 2016
- ↑ The Redding Pilot, "Two candidates are in contest for GOP nomination for Probate Judge," August 4, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Connecticut; Limited Jurisdiction Courts," accessed October 2, 2014
- ↑ State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, "Organization of Connecticut Courts," accessed June 23, 2014
- ↑ Connecticut Secretary of the State, "Contitution of the State of Connecticut," accessed June 23, 2014 (Scroll to "Article Fifth")
- ↑ Connecticut Statutes, "Chapter 153, Part III, Section 9-400," accessed February 26, 2014
- ↑ Connecticut Secretary of State, "Minor Parties in Connecticut," February 11, 2016
- ↑ Connecticut Statutes, "Chapter 153, Part I, Section 9-373a," accessed October 31, 2013
Federal courts:
Second Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Connecticut • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Connecticut
State courts:
Connecticut Supreme Court • Connecticut Appellate Court • Connecticut Superior Court • Connecticut Probate Courts
State resources:
Courts in Connecticut • Connecticut judicial elections • Judicial selection in Connecticut
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