The presidential preference primary will be held on Tuesday, June 2, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Community Gym at Granby Memorial High School.
To be clear, this vote is to choose delegates for the national party conventions held this summer; actual voting for the President will be done in November. Voters will also have the option to choose an uncommitted delegate in this primary.
Same day registration does not apply to primaries, it must be done prior to the primary. To be eligible to vote in the June 2 presidential primary you must be a U.S. citizen, registered to vote and affiliated as a Democrat or Republican by noon on Monday, June 1. Voters are encouraged to check party affiliation online at sots.state.gov; it is available 24/7.
In Connecticut, those who are currently 17 years old but will turn 18 by Nov. 3 can participate in the primary if they register with a party by the cutoff dates listed on page 13. For all primaries in Connecticut, you must be a party member of the party you wish to vote for. State party rules prohibit cross voting in another political party’s primary. Unaffiliated voters are not allowed to vote in either primary. Of Granby voters, 38.2 percent are currently unaffiliated, 31.2 percent are Republican, 29.0 percent are Democrats and 1.6 percent are minor party members.
To gain party affiliation, go online to complete a voter registration card and check the box marked “party enrollment change” and be sure to write in a political party. The website is: voterregistration.ct.gov/OLVR/welcome.do —until the postmark and online deadline to register to vote on May 28. The in-person deadline is noon on June 1. The registrar’s office is open from 9 a.m. to noon on that day.
Party membership does not cost anything, nor are party members obligated to vote along party lines. The deadline to switch from one party to another has already passed. There is a 90-day waiting period for those switching political parties to attain party privilege, so anyone switching parties between March 3 and June 2 would be ineligible to vote in either Presidential Preference primary. Unaffiliated and new voters who register as Democrat or Republican by noon the day before can participate in the June 2 primary.
On Feb. 14, the Secretary of State announced the candidates qualified to be on the ballot. The list is printed below in alphabetical order. (Candidates need to officially drop out to be removed from the ballot.) On April 28, Denise Merrill will announce the order that the national candidates will appear on each ballot and sample ballots should be available for viewing on the SOS website: sots.state.ct.us
Democratic candidates who qualified to have their delegates on the ballot: Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren (and Uncommitted).Republican candidates qualified to have their delegates on the ballot: Rocky De La Fuente, Donald Trump and Bill Weld (and Uncommitted).