At 8 p.m. the last ballot was cast and the doors closed at High Plains Community Center. A mom with two young children in tow walked to her car and volunteers did busy work at their sign-in tables. The building custodian disassembled the voting tables
The ballot machine was checked, and with a thumbs-up a low clicking sound came from the machine as it spit out the cash-register type voting results for the moderators surrounding it.
One-by-one they signed off on the slips as a spattering of republicans and democrats sat silently on the bleachers anxiously waiting for a chance to report back to his or her respective headquarters.
Two reporters, notepads at the ready also waited patiently.
For the first time in my memory, the moderators did NOT read the results, but rather taped the little slips to a wall near the door and all the curious onlookers began taking shots of them with their cell phones. This method, of course made it impossible to figure out the winners from those who were unsuccessful in their election bids. With up to 15 separate photos to sift through in order to make some calculations.
Republican HQ
First Selectman Jim Zeoli sat in the front of the room at headquarters fielding phone calls and texts as he waited for the results.“I’m a little nervous about this one. It could go either way,” he said.
Then, around 9 p.m. his campaign manager walked in, his arms raised in victory. Zeoli had won another term with 60% of the vote – 3,039 to his opponent, Connor Deane’s 40% – 2,003 votes.
Even though he did not win the top seat, Deane garnered enough votes to win a seat on the Board of Selectmen.
Town Attorney Vincent Marino arrived and announced that the Republicans swept the race. The new Town Clerk, replacing retiring Patrick O’Sullivan is Mary Shaw. Thomas Hurley will be sworn in tomorrow and immediately take the office of Tax Collector, vacated by Sandra Pearson.
The Board of Selectmen consists of two Democrats – Mitch Goldblatt and Connor Deane, and four Republicans, Zeoli, Judy Williams, Ralph Okenquist and John Carangelo.
The winners on the Board of Finance are McNabola, Jain and Nuzzo.
The Orange Board of Education has Cap, Messina-Mullen, James, Tremper and Rodrigues.
The Milford-Orange Judge of Probate is Win Smith Jr.
Planning & Zoning Parente, Cornell and Torrenti.
Amity Board of Education Hartshorn, Leveret-Daddio, and Eichler.
Democratic Headquarters
The mood at the Democratic Headquarters just down the street was subdued. There were some tears, some angry comments, but challenger Connor Deane kept his composure.
“You are on the board,” I told him, “Not every challenger has been able to do that.”
“I got more votes than any other Democratic challenger in 10 years, so I guess that’s something to celebrate,” he said. “I’m going to their headquarters now to congratulate them.”He grabbed Mitch Goldblatt and Kevin McNabola and off they went at 9:30 p.m.
The (unofficial) results will be posted before 11:45 p.m.