GOP Gains Two-Thirds Majority On Council

By John Voket

Despite a historically low turnout at the polls, Election Day 2005 was not without a few surprises. Thanks to narrow margins in each of the town’s voting districts, at least a couple of candidates in the town’s competitive races for Legislative Council may remain on the edge of their seats until early next week.

With fewer than 20 votes separating certain council candidates in each district, Town Clerk Cynthia Simon called for possible recounts, which would be scheduled for 4 pm next Monday. On Wednesday, however, Republican Town Committee Chairman Carol Recht told The Bee that she expected her party’s candidates would accept the counts as posted the night before.

“We do not anticipate calling for recounts in any of the districts,” Ms Recht said.

The GOP chairman’s more recent assertions differed from what Town Clerk Simon said as she posted election numbers after 11 pm on Election Day.

“District 2 and 3 may choose to not hold [recounts], but in the First District I’d be surprised if they didn’t insist on a recount because the closest race is between a Republican and a Democrat,” Ms Simon said.

In that First District, Democrat Peter Giarratano, a former finance board member, received 568 votes to incumbent Republican Joseph DiCandido’s 574 votes. Republican Richard Recht, another District 1 council incumbent, received 568 votes as well.

But, Ms Simon said that in Districts 2 and 3, the closest counts are between Democrats. In these situations, it is up to the candidates to either demand a recount or waive the recount and let Tuesday’s counts stand.

“Because there are less than 20 votes separating certain candidates in each district, we have to have the recount unless those candidates from the same party waive the recount,” Ms Simon said.

In District 2, Democrat Joseph Hemingway garnered 633 votes to fellow Democrat Timothy Holian’s 638 votes. In District 3, Democrat James A. Shpunt, Sr, received 527 votes, only two less than Daniel Amaral, a fellow Democrat whose count stood at 529.

At press time, town Democrats had not released a statement on their decision about recounts in Districts 2 and 3. If all counts are left to stand as registered Tuesday evening, the Legislative Council will go from an evenly split six to six make-up, to an eight to four Republican majority.

At press time Tuesday, the victorious candidates were reported as follows:

District 1 — Michael Iassogna, R; Joseph DiCandido, R; Francis G. Pennarola, D; and Keith Jacobs, D.

District 2 — Patricia Llodra, R; Joseph Borst, R; Stacie Doyle, R; and Timothy Holian, D.

District 3 — William Rodgers, R; David Brown, R; A. Jeffrey Capeci, R; and Daniel Amaral, D.

Shortly after the polls closed at 8 pm, Registrars of Voters LeReine Frampton and Karen Aurelia reported that only 3,744 of Newtown’s 15,376 registered voters, or 24.3 percent, were motivated to head to one of the four polling places around town.

While election officials were optimistic that the turnout would at least match that of 1999, the last time top town officials ran unopposed, it was not meant to be. According to Ms Frampton, the closest comparison to the turnout in 1999 came in the late morning.

On that day, 1,097 votes had been cast by 11 am, only one vote less than the 1,098 votes cast by 11 am this Election Day.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal, who ran unopposed this year, said he was displeased with the low turnout.

“I appreciated all the people who supported me, but it’s always disappointing that we don’t get a better turnout,” Mr Rosenthal said. “Even though there was no contest for the first selectman, the Legislative Council is a very important race. The council is the last stop in the budget process, so I wish more people would come out and support those contests.”

Reflecting on the election’s outcomes Wednesday, Ms Recht said she and fellow party leaders were grateful to all candidates who presented themselves for election.

“We put our heart and soul into this campaign, and we succeeded in our goal of increasing our representation on the Legislative Council — from six to eight, which is really gratifying,” Ms Recht said. “Although we lost a seat in the First District, we gained two in the Second, and one in the Third. We are especially pleased to see how strongly voters supported new faces on the council — Pat Llodra, Stacie Doyle, and Jeff Capeci.”

One of the seats apparently lost in the First District was held by Richard Recht, the husband of the GOP’s party chairman.

Low Turnout

Anticipated

Expecting a low voter turnout due to the minimal level of competition for other offices including the first selectman, the registrars scaled back somewhat on the number of workers they brought in to staff polling locations. Ms Aurelia said her office predicted the turnout by looking back at previous elections where there was no contest for a first selectman.

Election Day 2005 was also historical because it will likely be the last municipal election Newtown and the rest of the state will fully utilize the refrigerator-sized mechanical voting machines that have been a fixture in polling places for more than a half-century. Federal voting legislation has dictated that fully accessible electronic voting terminals must be in place by the next election in 2006.

On Monday, while recounts are being completed in Newtown, the local registrars are scheduled to travel to Hartford for the first of two sessions with potential vendors for the new machines that will be integrated by early next year.

While the electronic machines must be fully employed by the next general election, Ms Frampton said she was hoping that both the town’s new computerized machines and the old mechanical machines would be available for voters in the town’s charter-mandated budget vote the fourth Tuesday in April 2006.

“It would be nice to have the new machines at the referendum so we can demonstrate them,” Ms Frampton said.

This Election Day was also unique in that it afforded an unparalleled opportunity to engage local young people in the process. The local registrars were able to employ 13 Newtown High School students as poll workers.

“The feeling is that if we can get these young people involved in the political process before they’re even old enough to vote, they will carry on the tradition of service as voters once they turn 18,” Ms Frampton said. “And maybe they’ll even go a step further and volunteer or run for office themselves.”

The NHS students not only received a monetary stipend for the long hours, but were able to accomplish 15 hours of community service hours. Some received additional credit for their government study classes, Ms Aurelia said.

Other students in the high school’s advanced culinary program played an important role as well, preparing dinners for all the paid and volunteer poll workers. The election workers were treated to chicken parmigiana, pasta, salad, and carrot cake.