Logan pulls ahead in D-17 Senate race
Disrictwide recount on tap
ANSONIA — The tide may have turned in the 17th District state Senate race, and state Democrats are not happy.
An error in the way numbers were transcribed has now resulted in State Sen. George Logan with a 65-vote lead in his re-election bid against Democrat Jorge Cabrera, according to state and local official.
Logan, an Ansonia resident, said the apparent error was discovered during a check of records by his staff Wednesday. Lawyers from both parties were in Ansonia Thursday looking into the problem.
Gabe Rosenberg, a spokesman for the Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, confirmed that the error occurred in Ansonia. Just how it happened he was not sure.
He said it could have happened when numbers were read off the result tapes taken from the machines on election night, or when the numbers were transcribed and sent to Merrill’s office.
Whatever the case, Logan overcame what appeared to be a 187-vote defeat and has turned it into a possible 65-vote victory.
Nick Balletto, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said he’s deeply concerned and skeptical of the explanations he and the party’s legal team have been getting to their questions.
“Over the course of the last day, the various different accounts from officials in Ansonia regarding the vote total have been inconsistent and question- able,” he said. “The lack of transparency and consistency raises grave concerns about the integrity of the outcome of the election. The Democratic Party will seek any and all remedies to get to the truthful answer, including availing ourselves of the Superior Court and calling witnesses to testify.”
The next step is an official recount in each community in the district that must completed by next Wednesday.
The district includes Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Hamden, Naugatuck and Woodbridge.
Late Thursday afternoon, Thom Maffeo, the Democratic Registrar of Voters in Ansonia, said the recount had not yet been scheduled.
“This goes go show we have a divided community in the 17th District,” said Logan, a first-term incumbent and the only black Republican Senator in the legislature. “If I am privileged to be re-elected, then it shows I have a lot of work ahead of me to bring my communities together. I’m going to again ask my constituents what the key issues troubling them are and then get to work on fixing them. My goal is to improve each and every one of their lives.”
Cabrera, who lives in Hamden and whose wife is the principal of Madison School in Bridgeport, referred comment to the Senate Democrats.