Preliminary results from Tuesday’s primary held few surprises for Wilton: GOP voters endorsed home-town candidate Kim Healy over Bethel’s William Duff in the race to choose an opponent to Democratic incumbent Will Haskell for the 26th District State Senate seat; in the presidential primaries, Democrats overwhelmingly cast votes for Former Vice President Joe Biden, while Republicans less-enthusiastically gave the majority to President Donald Trump.
But everyone will have to wait until Thursday for a full tally after absentee ballots postmarked on Aug. 11 and received by Aug. 13 are counted, according to Wilton’s registrars of voters. Votes will be official once they are
Healy received 687 Wilton votes to Duff’s 269. According to Ballotpedia, preliminary results from the other towns in the 26th District show Healy in the lead overall (2,352 v. 1,678), although final results will depend on additional absentee ballot counts (both Ballotpedia and The New York Times put Healy at 58% over Duff at 42% as of Wednesday morning; other towns’ preliminary results below are from the Wilton Bulletin, minus Westport):
Bethel: Healy–168; Duff–491
Ridgefield: Healy–371; Duff–317
Westport: Healy–TBD; Duff–TBD
New Canaan: Healy–395; Duff–113
Weston: Healy–62; Duff–58
In Wilton’s presidential races, Biden was the Democrats’ clear leader with 90% of the votes (1,550), over Bernie Sanders (138), Tulsi Gabbard (14), and uncommitted (16).
Wilton Republicans gave Trump 72% of the votes (704) over Roque ‘Rocky’ de la Fuente (71) and uncommitted (197).
The other ‘result’ of the day was how smoothly in-person voting went at Wilton’s three polling locations. Registrars Annalisa Stravato and Karen Birck had logged extensive hours preparing for the primary to incorporate very precise precautions against COVID-19.
Along with an army of volunteers, Birck and Stravato implemented a number of steps to protect poll workers and voters, from installing signage and floor directional markings to erecting plexiglass barriers to separate workers from voters, and even coming up with a solution for single-use ballot-marking pens, the long logistical list that they prepared helped make sure everything ran smoothly–and safely.
Kudos to the registrars and poll workers – it was a seamless, well-run organization at the High School. Well done!
Agreed!