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Torrington Recount Set in CT’s Only Unsettled State House District

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Mark Pazniokas/ CT Mirror

Torrington officials announced Friday they will hold a limited public “discrepancy recount” Tuesday to settle Connecticut’s one unresolved contest for a seat in state House of Representatives.

No results have been posted in the 65th House District, which lies wholly within the small city’s boundaries. Joe Canino, the Republican challenger, says results gathered election night indicate he defeated Rep. Michelle Cook, a Democrat. Cook said her campaign has been unable to obtain even incomplete results.

Affected to a smaller degree could be the tally in the 8th Senate District, which includes a portion of Torrington and 10 other communities. The consensus is that Democrat Paul Honig has unseated Sen. Lisa Seminara, R-Avon, in the 8th. “While I do not anticipate this will change the election results, constituents deserve transparency and accurate information,” Seminara said. Based on information gathered by her campaign, Honig’s margin of victory is less than indicated by the incomplete results, she said.

In a joint statement, the Democratic and Republican registrars of voters in Torrington said “a number of extenuating circumstances” has led them to conclude “a discrepancy recanvass is in the best interests of the voters and the candidates.”Top of Form

Bottom of FormState law dictates automatic recounts when the margin of victory is fewer than 20 votes or half of one percent and not more than 2,000 votes. It also enables local officials to recanvass when they see discrepancies to be resolved. The statement did not identify specific discrepancies and instead generally cited “problems with tabulators at the Armory [polling place], a printing error on a batch of ballots,” and the heavy demands of early voting and same-day registration. 

The recount will involve only “ballots processed at our central counting location, which includes Absentee ballots, Early Voting Ballots, and Same Day Registration ballots,” the registrars said. Carol Anderson, the city clerk, clarified that no ballots cast on Election Day at any of the city’s six polling places will be recounted, only the absentee, early voting and same-day ballots.

If Canino is deemed the winner, House Democrats will have made a net gain of four seats and improve their majority to 102-49.