When the 126th General Assembly begins its session today in Hartford, it’ll be nine legislators short.

In press releases Tuesday and this morning, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz ’83 announced that she had received letters of resignation from three state senators and six state representatives, all of whom won re-election in November. That means Gov.-elect Dan Malloy, whose new job begins today, has 10 days to issue a writ of special election in the nine affected districts, with an election coming 46 days after Malloy issues the writ.

Six of the legislators are giving up their spots for posts within the Malloy administration, and two will take full-time government jobs. One, Sen. Thomas Gaffey of Meriden, resigned after eight terms amid scandal — instead of beginning a ninth term, Gaffey will be in Superior Court today pleading guilty to six counts of larceny, the Hartford Courant reported.

Once Malloy issues the writ of special election, petitioning candidates will have eight days to collect and submit to the Secretary a number of signatures from registered voters equal to at least 1 percent of the total votes cast in their district in the November election.