SOUTHINGTON — A state House election decided by one vote in this past week’s recount is settled as far as state elections officials are concerned despite the improbably close results.
Democrat Chris Poulos came out one vote ahead of his Republican opponent Tony Morrison after Monday’s recount. Poulos had a six-vote lead going into the recount. Nearly 11,000 votes were cast in the 81st House district race.
Political veterans say it’s the only race decided by a single vote that they can remember.
“I remember close votes but never one,” said Cheryl Lounsbury, a Republican former Southington town councilor and a campaign manager for former U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Johnson. “That’s a real real first-timer for Southington.”
An election lawyer said it’s unlikely that the vote will be overturned unless someone brings evidence of fraud.
“It’s generally got to be something like, the recount was done improperly, there was some bias, there was fraud,” said John Wolter, an attorney with Updike, Kelly & Spellacy. “It’s just incredibly hard to get a court to overturn something.”
Poulos and Morrison were vying for a state House seat that will be vacated by Republican John Fusco. The district is entirely within Southington and both Poulos and Morrison serve or have served in local government.
Morrison said he’s not sure what action he’ll take following the recount and one-vote loss.
The 81st district was held for five terms by Bruce “Zeke” Zalaski, a Democrat who rode a motorcycle to campaign events. Zalaski said his blue-collar roots helped him connect with constituents but that the district was changing toward the end of his tenure.
“It really turned into a Republican district,” he said.
Zalaski only won his first race in 2002 by 300 votes although he had more comfortable margins after that. While there remain more registered Democrats in town than Republicans, the margin has narrowed in recent years. The factories and factory workers have also mostly disappeared from Southington.
“I would say it’s a very divided district,” Zalaski said. “More money has moved into town, I understand that.”
Observers on both sides of the aisle expected a close race between Poulos, a teacher and former Town Council member, and Morrison, a Board of Finance member. The one-vote win was the only such race that Zalaski, Lounsbury and others could remember in Connecticut politics or even regionally.
A New Hampshire state House district was also determined by one vote following a recount last week. The Democrat, Maxine Mosley, was 23 votes behind her Republican opponent Larry Gagne following Tuesday’s election according to the Manchester Ink Link.
The final vote following the recount was 1,799 to 1,798 in favor of Mosley.
David Zoni, a Democrat who represented Southington prior to Fusco, said the final result also took him by surprise. He had a recount in one of his Town Council races and said he understands the emotions of a nail-biter election.
“It was hair raising,” Zoni said.
He’s never gone back to look at who among his friends and family did and didn’t vote in that election. Zoni advised candidates to do the same to avoid disappointment.
“I didn’t do it, even the time I lost,” he said. “I never looked to this day to see who came out to vote.”
With a margin of only six votes after the Nov. 8 election, a recount was allowed by state election law. With that recount complete, Secretary of the State communications director Desmond Conner said the election is over.
Even with a case pursued aggressively, Wolter said it’s difficult to overturn election results. He cited the West Haven mayoral election of 2021 which saw Democrat Nancy Rossi beat her Republican opponent Barry Lee Cohen by just 32 votes. Like Morrison, Cohen was winning until absentee ballots were counted.
A judge this year ruled against Cohen, who had challenged the results based on violations of election law and the handling of absentee ballots.
“The courts are very reluctant to get in the middle of these situations,” Wolter said. “You’re going to have to have something that is very objective that causes a judge to decide he’s going to step in.”
“When you’re doing a recount, everybody’s there. Both sides have observers,” Wolter said. “It’s awfully hard to challenge.”
Gary Rose, a political science professor at Sacred Heart University, could remember a host of close elections but not any decided by a single vote. He said the odds of such a result were definitely increased by having an open seat in a state House election.
While the statewide seats are rarely close, the more local the race the more local personalities play a part.
“This is where you see personalities play a much more important role, familiarity, name recognition,” Rose said.
When Republicans have complained about election fraud, the target is often absentee and mail-in ballots, according to Rose. He didn’t believe that was the case in Connecticut elections, though.
“There’s just not enough evidence to suggest that’s the case,” Rose said. “I feel confident in voting. Connecticut has a pretty good record in that.”
Lounsbury hoped there wouldn’t be a challenge to Monday’s recount.
“I was very happy to see that people conceded graciously when they lost. That can go a long way towards healing and God knows our country needs to be healed politically,” she said. “Let’s uphold democracy. If people voted, even by one vote, the people voted.”
jbuchanan@record-journal.com203-317-2230Twitter: @JBuchananRJ
