7 Democrats to cast CT’s Electoral College votes
Each presidential election year, seven people are selected to represent Connecticut in the Electoral College.
They are tasked with one job: Cast a ballot for the candidates for president and vice president who won their state’s popular vote.
Since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the popular vote in Connecticut, Democratic electors were chosen to certify the state’s results. Biden received more than 59 percent of the vote in Connecticut, defeating President Donald J. Trump with 1,080,680 votes to 715,291.
Connecticut’s electors will cast their votes at noon Monday at the Senate Chamber in Hartford.
Electors are bound by state law to cast a ballot for the candidate certified in the election, according to Jacqueline Kozin, executive director of the Connecticut Democratic Party.
Electors will sign two ballots — one for Biden and the other for Harris — and will place them in a secure box before completing the process by signing a series of certificates that are sent to the national archives in Washington.
According to Connecticut Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo, electors are either selfnominated or nominated by municipal leaders.
“It’s open to anybody to nominate. Quite honestly, not a lot of people in the past requested to be on it,” DiNardo said.
Kozin said they received a pool of 36 applications — all self-nominations — that were passed to the convention delegates for a final vote.
Kozin says all seven electors have been engaged in their communities and broader politics.
Here are the Electoral College members representing Connecticut on Monday:
Susan Barrett, Fairfield
Barrett previously served as a state representative and on the Democratic State Central Committee.
John Kalamarides, Wilton
Kalamarides was formerly a chairman of Wilton’s Democratic Town Committee and served on the town’s board of finance. He is the vice president of RHK Capital, a wealth management firm in Westport.
Dana Barcellos-Allen, Avon
Barcellos worked on the 2018 state representative race and as a field organizer for Jahana Hayes’ 2020 campaign. She is the director of marketing and development at Operation Fuel in Hartford.
William Smith, Hartford
Smith has been a grassroots activist involved in Hartford for many years, according to Kozin.
Myrna Watanabe, Harwinton
Watanabe formerly served as a Harwinton town chair and the Democratic State Central Committee of Connecticut.
Anthony Attanasio, Niantic
Attanasio is a member of the Democratic State Central Committee of Connecticut and has been involved in Niantic committees for several years. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is an engineering specialist at General Dynamics Electric Boat.
Dominic F. Balletto Jr., East Haven Balletto previously served as a state party chair and town chair of New Haven. He’s been involved in Democratic politics for a long time, according to Kozin.