This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
11/14/2018 11:00 PMDue to a reporting error in Essex, the race in the 33rd State Senate District between Norman Needleman, a Democrat who is currently first selectman of Essex, and State Representative Melissa Ziobron (R-24) is now subject to a close-vote recanvass that the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s Office says must take place no later than Monday, Nov. 19.
Secretary of the State’s Office spokesman Gabe Rosenberg said this afternoon that it is his understanding that the absentee ballots and election day registration votes in Essex were erroneously counted twice for both candidates, because the vote totals appear to have been entered into the wrong columns by the town.
Essex Republican Registrar John Heiser said Thursday afternoon that the error was discovered by town officials Wednesday, verified Thursday morning, and then it was reported immediately to the state.
"We submitted some wrong totals," he said.
He said that town officials will try to ensure that this does not happen again by making sure that "when we read the tapes, we read the correct totals, not the incorrect totals."
The recanvass will have to be done in all of the towns in the 33rd Senate District, which includes Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland, and Westbrook.
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[naviga:li]Essex will do its recanvass on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. in the auditorium of town hall, 29 West Street, Essex.[/naviga:li]
[naviga:li]Chester will do its recanvass on Friday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. in town hall, 203 Middlesex Turnpike, Chester.[/naviga:li]
[naviga:li]Clinton will do its recanvass on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 10:30 a.m. at town hall in the Rose Room, town hall, 54 East Main Street, Clinton .[/naviga:li]
[naviga:li]Old Saybrook will do its recanvass on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 9 a.m. in the first floor conference room in town hall, 302 Main Street, Old Saybrook. [/naviga:li]
[naviga:li]Deep River will do its recanvassSunday, Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. in the public library common room, 150 Main Street, Deep River, in the room off of the back entrance.[/naviga:li]
[naviga:li]Westbrook will do its recanvass on Saturday, Nov. 17 from 9 to 1 in town hall, 866 Boston Post Road, Westbrook.[/naviga:li]
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Rosenberg from the Secretary of State's Office says members of the general public are allowed to attend the recanvass.
"The registrars can arrange the room however they want to keep the public (and the media) from being in the way of the actual recount, but they have to be allowed in," he said.
According to a letter sent by Secretary of the State Denise Merrill to the town clerks in those towns, the updated vote totals stand at 25,387 for Needleman, and 25,250 for Ziobron, a vote total difference of 137. The unofficial results reported the day after the election, before the error was found, were 25,664 votes for Needleman and 25,361 votes for Ziobron, a margin of 303 votes. The race was too close to call on election night.
Ziobron ended up conceding shortly after noon on Nov. 7. Three-term incumbent Republican Art Linares, Jr., did not seek re-election for the seat after he moved out of district.
Theodore E. Bromley, a staff attorney for the Office of the Secretary of the State, said in an email to the town clerks on Thursday afternoon, “It is with great concern that I must send out this notice of recanvass at this late time. Only recently have towns in your district reviewed and amended head moderator’s returns with our office that change the vote totals for the candidates within the 33rd Senate District in such a way as to bring the vote total difference between the winning and losing candidate within the margin of a recanvass. I feel it is important to remind you all of the statutory duty imposed upon the town clerk, registrar of voters, and head moderator; a statutory duty that was supported by the Town Clerks Association and Registrars of Voters Association. Had this statutory duty been complied with, a recanvass would have been identified by Friday, Nov. 9, 2018.”
He noted that the statutory deadline to conduct any recanvass was Wednesday, Nov. 14.
“However, the main goal of all election officials is to ensure that candidate vote totals are correct and that the public has confidence in the process. It is because of this important duty that we are requiring that the recanvass you will conduct must be completed no later than Monday, Nov. 19. Once the recanvass is complete our office will review and decide if additional action against those involved will be required,” he wrote.