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11/20/2017 11:00 PMThe Superior Court of New Haven ruled on Nov. 21 that it found no sufficient reason to grant Democratic mayoral candidate Salvatore Maltese a recount after the Nov. 7 election.
Maltese had filed a civil suit against the Town of East Haven and officials for alleged improprieties during the election. The complaint called for the court to order the town to schedule a recanvasing, review, and recount of the ballots for the general municipal election for mayor held on Nov. 7.
The suit alleged discrepancies and irregularities occurred during the absentee ballot process, that ballots were monitored and reviewed without a Democratic Party representative, that the Republican Town Committee chairman acted improperly, and that machine problems resulted in a number of questionable votes made and recorded in the general election, according to the complaint. The court found none of the complaints valid.
According to the written court decision, Maltese “failed to carry his burden of establishing that there were substantial errors in the rulings of an election official or substantial discrepancies or mistakes that would affect the results of the November 7, 2017, mayoral election, such that would render the reliability of the results of the election, as reported by the election officials seriously in doubt.”
Find the full decision posted with this story above.
The hearing for the case began on Nov. 17, and continued until Nov. 20. The written decision was posted on Nov. 21.
Attorney Edward Marcus, who represented Maltese in the case, said after the hearing concluded on the 20th that he was hopeful the judge would grant a recount. He said he thought there were enough questions about the conduct of the election and enough alleged discrepancies and improprieties to warrant one.
Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr., said in a statement issued after the decision became publicthat while he was glad the town prevailed in the lawsuit, he was both “saddened and angered by the costs [Maltese] forced the town to incur and the angst he caused both the residents and the officials he named in the complaint.”
With the case over, Maturo said, “…my team and I look forward to getting back to working to keep our community a safe, affordable, beautiful place to live, work, and raise a family.”
Town Attorney Joseph Zullo also weighed in after the hearing concluded on Nov. 20, saying that Maltese had eight days from the time of the election to the time the town was served with the complaint to put together facts for the case.
“Every single fact and figure in that complaint was proven demonstratively false, and I think that speaks volumes about the merits of the case,” Zullo said.
Maturo was sworn in as mayor on Nov. 18.