League of Women Voters Greater Hartford's 2022 Annual Meeting

with Guest Speaker, Denise W. Merrill

RSVP to lwvgreaterhartford [at] gmail.com to recive a Zoom meeting link.

Members may invite a guest to attend the meeting. 

Email your questions for the Secretary of the State to karen_licht [at] yahoo.com

Denise W. Merrill was elected to her third term as Connecticut's 73rd Secretary of the State on November 6, 2018. As Connecticut's chief elections official and business registrar, Merrill has focused on modernizing Connecticut's elections, business services and improving access to public records.

Secretary Merrill is focused on both civic engagement and fostering business enterprise. Since taking office, she has supported and expanded democratic participation, ensuring that every citizen's rights and privileges are protected and that every vote is counted accurately. Secretary Merrill has worked to expand voter participation through Election Day and online voter registration. She has also improved Connecticut's democratic accountability and integrity with a series of rapid response processes to Election Day problems. She was elected president of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) for the 2016-17 term, was the co-chair of NASS’s Election Infrastructure Subsector Government Coordinating Council, and serves on the Board of Advisors to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Prior to her election as Secretary of the State, Denise Merrill served as State Representative from the 54th General Assembly District for 17 years, representing the towns of Mansfield and Chaplin. In a 2009 poll done by Connecticut magazine, Majority Leader Merrill was named by her colleagues in the legislature as "Most Respected by the Other Side of the Aisle" and "Most Effective Legislator."

Secretary Merrill is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, is licensed to practice law in the state of California, and is a classically trained pianist. She lives in Hartford. Her family includes husband Dr. Stephen Leach and his two sons, her three grown children and six grandchildren.