Joe Visconti, an independent candidate for Governor of Connecticut, has qualified for the ballot. See this story, which says that the Secretary of State has determined that he has at least 7,500 valid signatures. In 2008 he was the Republican nominee for U.S. House in the First District. This year, his ballot label will be “petitioning candidate”, which is Connecticut’s ballot label for independent candidates. Even if he gets over 1% of the vote, his vote will not establish a party that is ballot-qualified for future gubernatorial races.

Visconti is the only statewide candidate who has qualified by petition in Connecticut so far this year. The only other statewide candidate who even tried is Jonathan Pelto, also running for Governor, but his petition is likely to fall short. Thanks to Timothy McKee for this news.