WALLINGFORD, CT — Wallingford has until Friday to recount its Election Day ballots after the town ran short on Tuesday and the replacement ballots it printed were run through its vote tabulators, when state rules called for setting them aside and counting them by hand. The recount lands on one of the closest legislative races in Connecticut.
In the 34th state Senate District, the Associated Press projected Democrat Brandi Mandato the winner over Republican Sen. Paul Cicarella of North Haven, CT News Junkie reported Wednesday morning, with 25 votes between them and about 99% of ballots counted. The outlet said the race may go to a recount. WTIC News reported that the 34th District stays too close to call until it is clear how many ballots Wallingford voters cast.
Why the Town Ran Out
Joan Parisi, one of Wallingford's two registrars of voters, told the Connecticut Mirror the shortage traced back to the way the state color-coded and labeled ballots this year. Each kind of voter (early, absentee, same-day registration and in person on Election Day) got a slightly different ballot, so leftover early voting ballots could not be handed to Tuesday's voters. More people came to vote in person than the town expected, Parisi said, and it had to print more Election Day ballots.
A Wallingford registrar told WFSB's I-Team that nearly all of the town's polling places ran short sometime between 4 and 5 p.m. Parisi told the Mirror that voters did not face long delays, and that hundreds of ballots would need to be tallied by hand.
The Recount and Its Deadline
Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said Tuesday night that the state learned afterward that the printed ballots had gone into the tabulators, and that her office had directed Wallingford's moderator to hold a "discrepancy" recount. Section 9-311 of the state's General Statutes gives a moderator three days after an election to act on a discrepancy in the returns, which makes Friday the deadline. The state's procedure manual calls the process a recanvass.
"This is exactly why Connecticut uses paper ballots," Thomas said. "We don't guess. We check. We're committed to ensuring every ballot is counted fairly and accurately."