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Fifth District Race Still in Doubt

BY ANDY HART

September 20, 2012

It has been well over a month since the Democratic Primary and, as of presstime, Leo Canty of Windsor and Brandon McGee of Hartford were still waiting to hear which one of them will be the party’s endorsed candidate for State Representative from the 5th District in November’s general election.

Superior Court Judge A. Susan Peck was expected to continue hearing testimony concerning the election Wednesday afternoon.

In the August 14 primary, Canty and McGee finished in a dead heat, with 774 votes each. Windsor Mayor Donald Trinks finished third with 267 votes. An automatic recount ordered by the Secretary of the State’s office gave Canty one more vote and the victory – or so it seemed.

McGee filed a complaint, citing certain irregularities in the way the votes were counted. The election went to court and Peck ordered a rare second recount. This recount gave McGee one more vote, putting him even with Canty again. But court testimony also revealed that an absentee ballot in Windsor had not been counted because election officials believed that the woman who cast it had passed away before the election.

Further investigation revealed that the women was in fact still alive. Her ballot has yet to be opened, and it is not known whether she voted for Canty, McGee or Trinks. This unopened ballot was expected to be the main subject of Wednesday afternoon’s court deliberations.