East Hartford Democrat Lee Griffin Faces State’s Restrictive Ballot Access Laws.

Lee Griffin came close to winning the East Hartford Democratic Town Committee’s endorsement at its July nominating meeting. The retired police officer and former board of education and town council member serves as the town’s treasurer. The town committee contest, Griffin says, featured many last-minute switches, leaving him with 45% of the votes cast.

Griffin will need to collect more than 700 valid signatures from local Democrats to challenge the winner of the town committee contest, former Republican town council member and town finance director Michael Walsh, in a September primary. The confident Griffin said Saturday that he and his team are on course to qualify for the primary ballot. It should not take this much time and effort to participate in a primary..

Making it easier to cast a vote has limited effect if candidates are kept off the ballot by the hurdles that serve party organizations.

Posted August 7, 2021