Mystery ballot fails to solve deadlocked primary race in Connecticut

Two recounts and a mystery absentee ballot have failed to produce a  winner in a deadlocked Democratic primary race in Connecticut’s 5th General Assembly District.

The race between challenger Brandon McGee and party-endorsed candidate Leo Canty remained tied 774-774 after a second recount in Hartford on Tuesday resulted in no changes to the vote totals, The Hartford Courant reported.


Election officials then thought an absentee ballot in an envelope labeled “deceased” would put an end to the race. That ballot had not been counted during the original election or during the two recounts, the Courant reported. Officials discovered Tuesday that the ballot was legitimate because it was cast by an elderly – but very much alive -- woman who lives in a nursing home.

But when the envelope was opened in court on Wednesday, it was discovered the woman had voted for a third candidate in the race -- Windsor Mayor Donald Trinks, who finished a distant third in the primary.

That led Superior Court Judge A. Susan Peck to order a new election on Oct. 2 between Canty and McGee.

The winner will be anyone’s guess.

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Discuss this post

And there will still be people who say vote fraud is "insignificant" in the face of an example where one vote decides a race.

  • 6 votes
Reply#1 - Thu Sep 20, 2012 10:04 PM EDT

A primary race to determine a candidate for a minor position.

Nationwide, in person fraudulent votes average less than 1 vote per year per state. And about half are cast by Republicans, half by Democrats, so even that miniscule effect is somewhat self-cancelling.

Absentee ballots, on the other hand, are a major source of fraudulent votes, but the Jim Crow laws you apparently endorse conveniently ignore those altogether, perhaps because fixing that problem wouldn't have the desired effect of suppressing tens of thousands of legal votes from poor, young, black and senior people.

  • 2 votes
#1.1 - Fri Sep 21, 2012 4:19 AM EDT

@JimCA, First, if you believe that there is only one fraudulent vote per state, you simply are kidding yourself considering the large number of voters.

Second, considering how the Electoral College works, with each state's votes being counted separately from any other state's, with the winner receiving all the electoral votes for said state, even a small percentage could sway the national election.

  • 2 votes
#1.2 - Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:46 AM EDT
Reply

I wish I had multi residences. i could vote mitt and obama off the ballot

  • 3 votes
Reply#2 - Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:58 PM EDT
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.