The municipal election handbook

With two weeks to go until the official start to the municipal election season, for those new to the game, here's the guidelines that the Democratic and Republican town committees have to follow:

• Local caucuses of the two major parties must meet between July 21 and July 28 to nominate candidates for vacancies on boards of selectman, town councils and mayor's offices, as well as elected town boards such as education and planning.


• The completed rosters for both parties must be filed with the local registrars of voters Town Clerk by July 29.


• Minor parties have until Sept. 2 to file a list of endorsed candidates with their local town clerks.


• Members of the Republican and Democratic parties who are not nominated by their local caucuses, however, still have a chance to run. They can obtain primary petition forms from their local registrars of voters and collect signatures from members of their party. To qualify for a primary run, these candidates must collect signatures that equal 5 percent of the registered party members in their town or district. These completed petitions must be returned to the local registrars by Aug. 12.


• Depending on how many candidates qualify, the towns then hold primary elections for all offices on Sept. 15.


• Candidates for office have still one more route they can follow to qualify for the general election ballot on Nov. 3. That is the nominating petitions process in which, after obtaining forms from the secretary of the state's office in Hartford, a candidate for mayor or first selectman collects signatures that equal 1 percent of the number of people who voted in the last election for that office. If the position is an at-large position on a board, the number of signatures must equal 1 percent of all registered voters in the municipality.


• Nominating petitions must be returned to the secretary of the state's office by Aug. 5.

Let the silly season begin!