Letter of Agreement
March 18, 2020
The Hon. Denise Merrill
Secretary of the State
30 Trinity Street
Hartford CT 06106
Re: Letter of Agreement
Dear Secretary Merrill:
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, political parties are unable to gather in the normal course to
carry out the process of nominating candidates for office. There are three barriers to meeting in
person. First, the state currently prohibits public gatherings of 50 or more people for civic and
community purposes. Second, many locations commonly used by town committees are not
available to the public due to the pandemic. Third, the Center for Disease Control and
Preventions urges meetings with 10 or more attendees be canceled or held virtually.
At the same time, political parties rely on meetings to conduct their business. These meetings,
which may include a convention, a caucus or a town committee meeting, require individuals to
be present in order to vote or otherwise participate. While both parties believe that a virtual
presence, either telephonic, video or other technological means, would satisfy their respective
rules, we want to ensure that the public and election regulators recognize that the steps we
jointly have agreed to follow are fair and appropriate with regard to party nominations. This is
especially important for candidates who opt to participate in the state’s Citizens Election
Program.
Accordingly, the Connecticut Democratic Party and Connecticut Republican Party shall agree
that effective March 9, 2020 through Election Day (November 3, 2020) political parties may
carry out their responsibilities through telephonic, video or other technological means that
provide for a virtual presence for their participants. The parties agree that they shall put in
place measures to ensure that individuals who participate in the party process are identifiable
and adhere to the spirit of the party rules.
Finally, pursuant to their respective State Party Rules, certain town committees hold a caucus
to select delegates for conventions. It is the intent of both parties to amend their respective
rules to authorize the party chair under exigent circumstances to require those town committees
to replace the caucus to select delegates with a town committee meeting to do so. In order to
be timely, this change of rules will require an executive order by the Governor. In the event
that such an order is not issued in time, both parties will direct any town committee that holds a
caucus to select delegates to do so, instead, through a town committee meeting. The reason for
this order is that it is not feasible to properly conduct a caucus either telephonic, video or other
technological means.
We hereby file this Letter of Agreement with your office.