Supporters of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein claim they have submitted between 14,000 and 15,000 signatures of Connecticut voters to the Secretary of the State’s office asking for Stein’s name to be on November’s ballot.
If that’s true that is about twice the number of necessary signatures — 7,500 — needed to get Stein’s name listed on the ballot, along with Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton.
Also attempting to get on the Connecticut presidential ballot is Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
Petitions were submitted to the Secretary of the State’s office with Carla Howell’s name on them, according to Patrick Gallahue, a spokesman in Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s office. Howell is the national Libertarian Party’s political director. She is serving in many states, not just in Connecticut, as a “placeholder’’ candidate, who would eventually be replaced by Johnson if the Libertarians meet Connecticut’s 7,500 signature threshold.
The deadline to submit the signatures was Aug. 10.
It will still take several weeks for election officials to certify the signatures and decide which candidates will get a spot on Connecticut’s ballot.
