Office of the Secretary of the State

In order to practice social distancing and slow the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), public access to our building, 165 Capitol Avenue, will be restricted. Although in-person interactions will be limited, our office staff will be available via email as normal. For the Business Services Division email CRD@ct.gov and for the Legislative & Elections Administration Division email LEAD@ct.gov. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to return to normal business as soon as the immediate threat to public health has subsided.

Press Releases

10/23/2018

Secretary Merrill Comments on Joint Statement from the ODNI, DOJ, FBI, and DHS: Combating Foreign Influence in U.S. Elections

Last week, the federal law enforcement and intelligence communities issued a joint statement (below) on their efforts to combat foreign interference in the midterm elections. According to the statement, they do not “have any evidence of a compromise or disruption of infrastructure that would enable adversaries to prevent voting, change vote counts or disrupt our ability to tally votes in the midterm elections.”

They do, however, point to foreign influence campaigns’ attempts to “undermine confidence in democratic institutions and influence public sentiment and government policies” and to “influence voter perceptions and decision making in the 2018 and 2020 U.S. elections.”

“The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the rest of the federal law enforcement and intelligence communities highlight something that I have been talking about for months: foreign actors, rather than trying to “hack” our election results or voter lists, are trying to sow discord, drive Americans apart, and destroy our faith in our elections.

“It will only work if we let it, and in Connecticut, we are committed to strengthening our election infrastructure, building trust in our elections, and ensuring that every eligible voter can register, and every registered voter can vote. It is critical for every Connecticut voter to know that we fighting to make sure that every vote cast will be a vote counted.”

- Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill

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