"Missing Ballot" Takes Center Stage in Primary Election Hearing

During the August 17 recanvass of Democratic primary votes cast in Windsor, town hall council chambers was filled with confusion as the number of votes registered on Primary Night and the number of ballots counted during the recanvass did not match.

That discrepancy took center stage Friday in Hartford Superior Court during the third day of testimony delivered regarding proceedings in the primary election and recanvass conducted to determine the Democratic nominee in the race state representative in the fifth assembly district.

Both head election moderator Jay Melley and attorney John Kennelli, who served as a statutory observer for former candidate Brandon McGee during the recanvass, acknowledged the difference between votes reported on Primary Night and during the recanvass when questioned on the stand.

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The difference — a difference of one vote — led the McGee campaign to claim one ballot is missing, and that it was vote for the Hartford candidate.

Kennelli told Judge A. Susan Peck that both Leo Canty — who was declared the official winner of the primary by the secretary of state's office — and McGee lost one vote during the recanvass.

The vote Canty lost was the result of a ballot being disallowed when recanvassers identified the vote as being invalid. According to Kennelli, the voter marked a large "x" through the portion of the ballot dedicated to the fifth assembly district race. It just so happens, Kennelli explained, that a part of the "x" ran through the oval corresponding with Canty's name, and, when it was placed in the vote-tabulating machine, was registered as a vote for Canty. Melley also testified to the nature of this ballot and its rejection upon examination by eye.

The problem, Kennelli told the court room, is although McGee lost a vote as well, no ballot was identified as representing the vote he lost. Therefore, Kennelli deduced, the one-ballot discrepancy between counts on Primary Night and the recanvass must mean that one ballot is missing, and it represents for McGee.

"Simple math says the missing ballot must be for McGee," Kenneli said.

When questioned about the matter, Melley testified that the only explanation he could provide was that one ballot was counted twice. A machine at John F. Kennedy School (the district in which McGee lost a vote) was noted as having jammed when a voter attempted to submit their Republican ballot. The poll worker, Melley said Primary Day notes indicate, then re-fed the ballot through the machine. Melley added that it's possible the machine counted the the ballot when it jammed and again when it was resubmitted.

Kennelli, who served as the only witness who observed recanvasses in Windsor and Hartford, also testified to having witnessed loose ballots and ballots placed in incorrect bags during the Hartford recanvass.

According to Kennelli, when the sealed absentee ballot bag was opened during the day of the recanvass he saw "a total jumble of ballots."

"Numerous loose ballots were mixed in with ballots from other districts," Kennelli said, adding that he observed "contamination" of voting district by the presence of ballots from other districts.

Hartford Democratic Registrar of Voters Olga Iris Vazquez testified to having been notified of loose ballots in the absentee ballot bag, but added she was not present in city hall council chambers during the recanvass of absentee ballots.

Vazquez also acknowledged that elections staff, despite the training they receive, place ballots in bags unbound because they "are in a rush" after working a long election day.

When questioned by McGee's counsel, Vazquez agreed that such conduct means elections workers did not follow procedures dictated by the secretary of state.

Vazquez also made it clear vote tallies in Hartford did not change between Primary Day and the recanvass on August 21.

Both Kennelli and Vazquez's testimonies contradicted that of Eugene Cimiano, who served as the moderator of absentee ballots during the Hartford recanvass.

Cimiano told the court that he saw no loose ballots in the absentee bag when he opened it on the day of the recanvass in Hartford.

Testimony given Friday also revealed a discrepancy between the number of voters crossed of, the number of votes cast and the number of ballots.

When voters enter precincts, they are required to present identification and then have their names crossed off in a large book that tracks who in town has voted and who has not.

According to Melley, despite 525 ballots being counted during the recanvass, recanvass staff were only able to count 523 names that were crossed off as having cast a ballot during the August 14 primary.

Attorney William Sweeney, counsel for McGee, said he plans to call Bradley Jones, Hartford moderator of absentee ballots on Primary Day, to the stand when the hearing reconvenes on Tues., Sept. 11. Sweeney then plans to rest his case.