Welcome to GOOD Morning Wilton‘s Election 2019 Results!
UPDATE: Wednesday, Nov. 6, 12 p.m.–Wilton officials have clarified results from last night, with minority representation rules changing reported outcomes in one of the races. In the race for Planning & Zoning commission, Jake Bittner, an unaffiliated voter running as a candidate on the Republican slate, won’t be seated, despite getting more votes than the next higher vote getter, Democrat Florence Johnson. We have the story, here. (We’ve adjusted the results below as well.)
In addition, we’ve corrected also the number of candidates who will get seated as constables. While voters could only cast votes for three candidates, five of them will actually earn the post.
UPDATE: Wednesday, Nov. 6, 7 a.m.–Wilton voters overwhelmingly re-elected incumbent Lynne Vanderslice for four more years as First Selectwoman. She received 3,051 votes to Deb McFadden’s 1,652. Challenger Michael Powers‘ lawsuit against the town may have been one element leading to his voting share of 118 votes in the race.
McFadden will still keep her seat on the Board of Selectmen, which will see a major shift with second selectman Dave Clune departing after Democrat Ross Tartell won a seat. In that race, Republican Josh Cole received the highest number of votes (2,336), followed by Tartell (2,160), Democrat Ceci Maher (2,059) and the unaffiliated Clune (1,631).
Wilton seemed to vote definitively along party-lines last night in all the races, with the top vote-getters almost exclusively Republicans. Some observers suggested moves by party leadership in Hartford at the start of the last legislative session–promoting school regionalization as the prime one–had a resulting impact last night.
The one slight exception to the strict party-line vote happened in the Board of Finance race. While Republican Peter Balderston was returned to the BOF for a second term, his party running mate, Warren Serenbetz, wasn’t returned to the board after a four-year hiatus. Instead, voters seated Mike Kaelin–the Republican-turned-unaffiliated-turned-Democrat–and Chris Stroup, an unaffiliated voter running on the Democratic slate, to the finance board.
Here are some reaction comments from the campaigns, candidates, etc.:
Lynne Vanderslice, re-elected as First Selectwoman: “I am pleased the voters endorsed the work of the town employees and my administration. As promised, we will be back at work tomorrow executing against our vision for Wilton. On behalf of the Board of Selectmen and the town employees, I would like to thank Dave Clune for his outstanding contribution and leadership as Wilton’s Second Selectman. Congratulations to the voters for being engaged and generating such a large turnout.”
Bill Lalor, Republican Town Committee chair: “Obviously we are very happy with the results and sincerely appreciate the voters’ confidence. The Democrats ran a hard fought and honorable campaign and should be congratulated for that as well. Everyone on the GOP slate looks forward to continuing to work for everyone in Wilton.”
Tom Dubin, Democratic Town Committee chair: “Congratulations to all the candidates who were elected to office on Tuesday–Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliateds. All of us choose Wilton as our home, and all of us share the same wish for a bright future. While Democrats are disappointed with tonight’s mixed results, we commend First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice, RTC chair Bill Lalor, and all Wilton Republicans on their well-run campaigns. Thank you to the strong Democrats who stepped up to run for office and to all those who helped support our campaigns. Democrats look forward to continuing our work with all levels of government in town to ensure that Wilton is the first choice for people shopping for new homes, for parents looking to educate their children, for developers planning vibrant new projects, and for businesses considering new store and office locations.”
We emailed Michael Powers for a comment, but received an ‘out of office’ reply. We also sent a text but haven’t heard back yet. UPDATE 9:42 a.m.–Powers emailed to say, “Congratulations to Lynne Vanderslice on her definitive win. I reached out to Lynne directly and applauded her and her victory. I would also like to thank all the residents of Wilton who came out and voted yesterday and let their voices be heard. Additionally, to all the candidates who put their name forth to run for elected office, I commend you all. For those candidates who won, I congratulate on your victory and wish you the best in your upcoming term.”
Dave Clune gave GOOD Morning Wilton the following statement: “Congratulations to Lynne, Josh and Ross. They will have a great Board along with Lori and Deb. I look forward to watching them work together. Thank you to everyone who supported me as an unaffiliated candidate.”
UPDATE–10:50 PM: Vote tallies have been UPDATED with the preliminary official results from the registrars of voters’ office. In all, 4,881 people voted, out of the 12,355 eligible voters in Wilton. Turnout was 39.5%.
UPDATE–8:45 PM: We have UNOFFICIAL RESULTS, posted below. These MAY CHANGE, pending absentee counts and updates from the registrars of voters.
ORIGINAL STORY: We’ll update this page as soon as we have results in from the registrars and Wilton’s three precincts, sometime very soon after 8 p.m. Tuesday evening. Here’s how it will work:
As soon as we have preliminary results, we’ll go LIVE on GMW‘s Vimeo channel, YouTube channel and Facebook, as well as right here on this page. We’ll also update the post, below, which we’ve got prepped and ready for winners to be announced. When we are ready to say who the winners are we’ll add the vote tallies and put the names of the winners in BOLD.
Remember, results are unofficial results, based on voting machine tallies collected at each of Wilton’s three polling places, until the registrars of voters confirm the outcome. And even that won’t be official and final until the CT Secretary of State confirms it.
Update 8:15 p.m.: Polls are closed but we’re waiting for tallies to be posted. Registrars are checking machine totals and ballots before releasing anything…
Update 10:50 p.m.: Results below have been updated with the preliminary official results from the registrars of voters.
Projected winners will appear in bold (terms are four years, unless otherwise noted):
*as soon as polls close and results are in…not until after 8 p.m.
First Selectman (one seat open)
Deb McFadden 1,652
Lynne Vanderslice 3,051
Michael Powers 118
Board of Selectmen (two seats open)
Ross Tartell 2,160
Ceci Maher 2,059
Joshua Cole 2,336
Dave Clune 1,631
Board of Finance–Full Term (three seats open)
Chris Stroup 2,484
Jung Soo Kim 2,422
Mike Kaelin 2,518
Peter Balderston 2,527
Warren Serenbetz 2,441
Board of Finance–Two-Year Term (one seat open)
Kevin Gardiner 3,071
Board of Education (three seats open)
Ruth DeLuca 2,513
Savet Constantine 2,503
Mandi Schmauch 2,751
Jennifer Lalor 3,031
Planning & Zoning–Full Term (four seats open)
Florence Johnson 2,304
Rem Bigosinski 2,176
Melissa-Jean Rotini 2,871
Rick Tomasetti 2,808
Matthew Murphy 2,639
Jake Bittner 2,515
Planning & Zoning–Two-Year Term (one seat open)
Peter Squitieri 2,159
Jill Warren 2,379
Board of Assessment Appeals (two seats open)
Bob Zsunkan 2,835
Dan Falta 3,063
Zoning Board of Appeals–Full Term (three seats open)
John Gardiner 2,469
Monty Du 2,510
Libby Bufano 2.978
Anthony Cenatiempo 2,581
Zoning Board of Appeals–Two-Year Term (one seat open)
Sunila Kapur 2,929
Zoning Board of Appeals Alternate–Full Term (one seat open)
Gerald Holdridge 3,156
Constable (three seats open)
Ernie Ricco 2,080
Bo Mitchell 2,042
Paul Soley 1,846
Chris Gardner 2,435
Lianne Acosta-Rua 2,428
Raymond Tobiassen 2,163