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Recount In Windsor Brings 5th House District Tally To A Tie Vote

Hartford To Hold Its Recount Tuesday

By JESSE RIFKIN

August 17, 2012

WINDSOR —— After finishing behind political newcomer Brandon McGee by one vote for the Democratic nomination in the 5th House District, 774-773, a partial recount Friday night knocked one vote off for McGee, allowing Leo Canty to tie the tally.

The newly redrawn district also contains portions of north Hartford, and the city will hold its recount Tuesday at 9 a.m. at city hall.

Canty and McGee each lost one vote in theJohn F. KennedySchool polling location, while Canty gained one vote in the L.P. Wilson Community Center poll. The votes remained identical at the Windsor Community Center poll, keeping Canty's vote total identical while knocking McGee down one.

Canty's lost vote at the Kennedy School was because an "X" was marked large enough to seemingly indicate voting for all candidate bubbles, but the arm of the "X" only physically passed through Canty's bubble. Thus in the recount the ballot was changed from "Canty" to "no vote."

In addition, one ballot from JFK was lost. Windsor town officials believe the ballot was marked for McGee, since his overall vote total in the location was down one from Tuesday.

It was not immediately apparent was brought about the one extra Canty vote from L.P. Wilson.

The third candidate in the race was Windsor Mayor Donald Trinks, who received under 15 percent of the original vote. His 267-vote total remained unchanged as of Friday.

All candidates acknowledged that the upcoming Hartford recount will likely help McGee, who lives in the city. McGee received 53.1 percent of his votes from Hartford despite Windsor composing the majority of the district. By contrast, Canty received 89.9 percent of his votes from Windsor.

Canty, Windsor's Democratic Town Committee chairman and the party-endorsed candidate, lost his bid in 2010 for the 15th House District Democratic nomination to David Baram.

McGee, a political newcomer and director of development for Urban Alliance in Hartford, said if he loses this bid, he will run again.

The winner will take on Republican Paul Panos, a member of the Windsor Board of Education.