Connecticut secretary of state to resign, citing ill husband

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill will go away workplace six months earlier than her third time period ends, telling The Related Press she is resigning Thursday, efficient at midday, to spend extra time along with her husband, who’s dealing with critical well being issues.

The veteran Democrat, who was first elected because the state’s high elections official in 2010 after serving 17 years within the Connecticut Common Meeting, stated that it was a tough determination, contemplating that is an election 12 months, and that she feels accountable for ensuring it runs easily. Nevertheless, Merrill, 73, stated she will now not juggle the job and serving to take care of her husband.

“It’s an excessive amount of for me. I can’t do each, and I’ve to be at residence,” she stated throughout an interview Tuesday in her workplace, the place she was packing up outdated images of her days within the legislature. “I don’t have full-time caretakers, and it wouldn’t work, anyway. He’s very depending on me, and I’m depending on him in numerous methods.”

Merrill’s husband, Dr. Stephen Leach, 78, has been residing with Parkinson’s illness for years and has been coping with numerous well being setbacks extra not too long ago, she stated.

The 2, who reside in Storrs, have been a pair for about 20 years. Merrill recalled Tuesday how her husband would patiently sit within the gallery of the Home of Representatives till late into the evening when she was a state consultant, ready to drive her residence after debate would lastly wrap up.

“He was such a supporter,” she stated. “The least I can do is help him again. That’s how I really feel about it.”

Merrill introduced a couple of 12 months in the past that she wouldn’t be looking for a fourth time period, saying it was time for a “new era” to “step up” with new concepts on the best way to additional modernize voting and defend voters’ rights. However since then, she’s been grappling with the best way to end out her time period, given her husband’s altering medical situation.

“I’ve been occupied with this for months and making an attempt to determine if I can handle it,” stated Merrill, who has spoken a number of occasions with Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont about her household’s scenario.

“He’s been terrific, and he will get it,” Merrill stated. “Household first.”

Merrill plans to make a public announcement about her resignation Wednesday. It is going to then be as much as Lamont, who faces reelection in November, to pick her substitute for the reason that Common Meeting will not be presently in session. Lamont’s workplace stated the governor will announce an appointment quickly.

“Denise Merrill is a pricey pal to me, and her exit from public service is an incredible loss for the individuals of Connecticut,” Lamont stated in a written assertion, crediting her with changing into “one of the crucial revered secretaries of state within the nation” and lauding her efforts to spice up election participation.

“Denise has delivered outcomes, and our state is stronger due to her efforts,” he stated. “My prayers are along with her and her household, and I thank her for every thing she has given to Connecticut.”

Whereas Scott Bates presently serves as deputy secretary of the state, a job he has held since January 2017, there isn’t a requirement that Lamont select him. Bates, a former senior adviser with a nongovernmental group that works on political social gathering growth and good governance points worldwide, can also be a former chair of the Connecticut Port Authority.

“I’m certain that whoever the governor appoints, we’ll be in good fingers,” she stated, noting that “elections are robust” in Connecticut.

She listed the quite a few initiatives her workplace and the Common Meeting have taken over through the years to beef up digital safety, practice and certify native election officers, absolutely employees the workplace, and take steps to make it simpler for individuals to vote, together with the implementation of on-line voter registration, Election Day registration, computerized voter registration by the motor autos division, dropboxes for absentee ballots, and a poll monitoring system.

Merrill, a former president of the Nationwide Affiliation of Secretaries of State, is leaving workplace at a time when secretaries of state and election clerks throughout the nation have needed to take care of loss of life threats, harassment and unfounded accusations of fraud. Whereas Merrill has obtained some public criticism from Republicans at occasions, she stated it pales compared to what her colleagues are experiencing in different states.

“I at all times make the purpose that Connecticut has nice elections. We’re doing an exquisite job — 2020 was the most effective election I can bear in mind, even within the face of COVID and all of the modifications we needed to make,” she stated. “So I believe that has helped individuals really feel like, ‘Oh, in Connecticut, we’re fairly good. Possibly these different states are having hassle.’”