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

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