The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
State candidate discovers voters in wrong district
STRATFORD — When he realized something was wrong, Republican Jim Feehan of Stratford was walking the border of his 120th state House of Representatives district in a latecampaign door-knocking effort to unseat Democratic state Rep. Phil Young.
A loser to Young in the November 2018 election, Feehan on Tuesday noticed that there was an apartment complex on the site of a former car dealership on Stratford Avenue.
It did not belong in the 120th district, but rather is part of an uneven northern border in the neighboring district of veteran state Rep. Joe Gresko, D-121.
Feehan, in a rare case of being both the hero and victim in an unfolding political drama, reported the issue to town voting officials, who on Wednesday also found another block, in another part of the district, with about 10 voters who were incorrectly listed as living in the 120th District.
“I was very happy with the town and the Registrar of Voters’ office,” Feehan said Thursday. “They called me back yesterday. I have to tell you, I was very impressed by the speed of the reaction. They jumped right on. I am glad they caught it before the election.”
While town officials, including constables on Thursday were still attempting to contact all 277 voters and allow 45 to cast new ballots for the 121st District race, state officials and Republicans who battled the 2018 special election to the state Supreme Court were left wondering how it could happen.
Lou DeCilio, Stratford’s Republican registrar of voters, said the town was slow to adopt a computerized district mapping system. “Obviously, we created this issue and are addressing it,” DeCilio said on Thursday, describing the local response from voters as ranging from understanding and cooperative to conspiracy theorists.
“It’s been a mixed bag,” he said, adding that many voters aren’t even aware of their state House districts.
“It could have been decades before we finally found this error,” DeCilio said, stressing that the apartment was built in 2013, after the last 10-year redistricting. Before then, the neighborhood was mostly non-residential and the site of the apartment building was a longtime auto dealer.
The office of Secretary of the State Denise Merrill blamed the General Assembly for failing to adopt her 2019 recommendation that the state audit all 151 House and 36 Senate districts.
“It’s unfortunate,” said Gabe Rosenberg, general counsel for Merrill’sd office. “Everyone knows there are human beings in this process and mistakes take place. Also it is important to get the district lines right. That’s how we decide who wins elections in a democracy. There is nothing partisan about this.”
But Republican House leaders who challenged the
November 2018 election all the way to a loss in the state Supreme Court blamed the failure of majority Democrats in the state House of Representatives in turning down a 2019 proposal to revote the race where Feehan lost by 13 votes after an inexperienced election official gave out 76 ballots for the wrong House candidates in the split-district polling place.
“That was a very bitter process for me,” said Deputy House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford. “It’s unfortunately the same district that had the issues in 2018. It certainly opens up old wounds. We didn’t properly address the issues from two years ago.”
Candelora and state Rep. Jason Perillo, R-Shelton, were members of a bipartisan House committee that held hearings on the 2018 Stratford election. After months of delays, House Democrats rejected the call for a new election.
“The state going forward needs to change the process on how to deal with contested elected,” Candelora said.
“Phil Young won a race that probably, in reality, he didn’t win,” Perillo said on Thursday. “No group of individuals is perfect. It’s unfortunate we are where we are but we should be happy that the errors were identified and they are working toward correcting them.”
Young both agreed and disagreed with Perillo.
“I also am glad they got to this before the election, so hopefully nothing else will happen,” he said, adding: “There is absolutely no proof that I didn’t win that election fair and square.”
Gresko, in the neighboring district, said he is perplexed how the district line had not been corrected sooner.
“How many more mistakes are we going to find?” Gresko asked Thursday. “They had seven years to get it right.”
In addition to the apartment house correction, another 10 voters were found to be in Gresko’s district in five houses on the Henry Street extension.
Feehan is philosophical about it.
“It’s all in the hands of the voters,” he said. “I’m glad that we found it and it’s been fixed. Is there a little bit of aftertaste from 2018? I’m a rugby player. I’ve suffered from my share of bad calls. I should have walked a couple more streets in 2018 and not left room for a 13-vote difference.”