State Panel To Take Up Petition Complaint

By Tanjua Damon

NICE Party candidates are waiting to hear whether or not their names will make it on the November ballot. The State of Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission has the issue on its agenda for September 7 at 9 am in Hartford.

Newtown Town Clerk Cynthia Simon filed a complaint with the state’s elections enforcement office on August 16, after she viewed signatures on the petitions circulated by first selectman candidate Barry Piesner. She had suspicions about some of the signatures, which appeared to be in the same handwriting. She subsequently compared those signatures with signatures on voter registration cards in the town’s registrar’s office and found some of the names and signatures did not match up.

The complaint will be heard in a closed session of the Elections Enforcement Commission, according to the agenda. Beth Cote, a paralegal with the Elections Enforcement Commission, confirmed this week that the complaint was still under investigation but would be heard in executive session on Friday.

The NICE Party election slate includes eight candidates including Mr Piesner. In order to be on the November 6 ballot, 35 signatures had to be obtained by August 8. Just before that deadline expired, Mr Piesner collected 37 signatures and swore under oath that each of the voters whose names where on his petition signed their names in his presence. Mrs Simon reported last week that it appeared that husbands had signed for their wives. This irregularity may call Mr Piesner’s sworn statement into question, which may also affect the validity of the petition and consequently the legal validity of the NICE Party candidates.

The cloud over the status of the NICE Party candidates did not keep them from marching in the Labor Day Parade, just behind the Democrats and Republicans. Mr Piesner, who last week vowed that the NICE Party would be on the ballot in November, promised to hold a press conference on the matter on September 11. He expressed confidence that the matter could be resolved in a way that would allow the NICE Party to present some new choices to Newtown voters on the ballot this year.