Community Corner

[UPDATED] Maturo Officially Declared East Haven's Next Mayor After Recount

Joseph Maturo Jr defeats April Capone by 34-vote margin.

Updated at 9:30 p.m.

In addition to the race for mayor, the fourth and final seat for the Board of Finance was also so close it, too, required a recount.

But in the end, Republican candidate Marlene L Asid held on to defeat Democratic candidate Davd Garamella by a 10-vote margin: 3,196 votes to 3,186, to earn the last available spot up for grabs this year on the finance board.

Find out what's happening in East Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Asid told East Haven Patch she was very excited to be elected to her first post as a town official.

"And to see the Democratic system at work. And to know that every vote is counted and every vote counts, is exciting," Asid said.

Find out what's happening in East Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

And one final note.

There are two people who are most likely the most relieved to see today's final chapter closed on this year's municipal elections: General Election Moderator Donna DeLeone and Republican Registrar of Voters Donna Norman.

Both women have spent countless hours over the last several days and weeks preparing for Tuesday's vote as the town's head election officials. And that preparation showed during today's recount, which had little, if any, problems.

Norman said while things did run rather smoothly, she wished it had moved forward a little faster.

"But, it takes as long as it takes to get it right," she told East Haven Patch.

Norman added that now, finally, she can relax.

"And the knot in my stomach is gone," she said.

"Yes, same here," DeLeone added. "The knot in my stomach is gone, too"

"Now, I can finally get some sleep," she said.

"Yes, finally," Norman agreed.

And then the two gathered their things, put on their coats — and went home.

Updated at 8:30 p.m.

East Haven Democratic Town Committee Chairman said he didn't expect today's recount to change the outcome of Tuesday's election results for mayor.

But Ruocco said he is glad, overall, that the recount did take place, because it allowed residents and voters to have "closure" regarding this year's municipal election.

East Haven residents would be "proud to know of the procedure that took place here today," he said.

"We were very gentlemanly with one another," Ruocco added, referring to his counterpart Republican Town Committee Chairman Lou Crisci.

Ruocco also said he was proud of the work Mayor April Capone, a Democrat, has done during the four years of her two terms as the town's top elected official.

"She's done a tremendous job for this town... we felt we had a good four years," he said.

And, Ruocco said, he and other Democrats "will be closely watching" the Maturo Administration to ensure they "keep their campaign promises."

"And we'll be back in two years," he said.

Updated at 7 p.m.

It took election officials more than seven hours to carefully finalize the numbers, but at the end of recount tonight Joseph Maturo Jr was officialy declared East Haven's next mayor.

Maturo, the Republican candidate, defeated current Mayor April Capone, a Democrat, by 4,025 votes to 3,991 — or a 34-vote margin.

After Tuesday's municipal's election, Maturo had held a 31-vote victory margin. But that margin was expanded by 3 votes after today's required recount.

"I'm just glad that it's over," Maturo told reporters following the recount at the East Haven Senior Center.

Maturo will take the oath office and assume his role as the town's top elected official on Nov. 19.

He told reporters his previous 10 years of experience will allow him to get a quick start.

"I'm ready to hit the ground running," he said, adding that he plans to return to the Mayor's Office in Town Hall with most of the same team that surrounded him there four years ago.

He added that with the victory only a 34-vote margin between himself and Capone, that means "50 percent of the people like me and 50 percent don't."

"We want to work hard to make sure that all of the people are proud of this administration," Maturo said.

"We're going to do bigger and better things to make East Haven the shining star of the shoreline," he said.

Joseph Zullo, Maturo's campaign manager, agreed.

"It's really feels good to bring good government back to the people," Zullo told reporters following the recount. "And we're not going to let them down."

Updated at 3 p.m.

East Haven election officials are continuing their recanvassing on Tuesday's municipal election ballots.

Although each of the town's five voting districts are still in the process of being recounted, poll workers have completed their review of all absentee ballots. 

A moderator told East Haven Patch that the mayoral vote total was split 265 to 265 between current Mayor April Capone and former Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. 

The count was previously 266 to 266. And so with one vote lost apiece via absentee ballots, the 31-vote margin between the two candidates remains the same.

East Haven Patch is providing frequent updates regarding today's recount via our Facebook and Twitter pages. So be sure to check in often for the latest information.

Updated at 12 p.m. Saturday

Election officials have began their recanvassing of East Haven's Election Day ballots about 90 minutes ago, and already their appears to be some problems.

Town Clerk Stacy Gravino-Piccirillo told East Haven Patch that some Democratic election officials involved in today's recount are "questioning the integrity of how the absentee ballots were handled."

As , Gravino-Piccirillo — a Democrat re-elected to her second term on Tuesday — is charged with maintaining the town's absentee ballots.

Currently, election officials are reviewing the abstentee ballots for District 2. The town has five voting districts.

East Haven Patch is providing frequent updates regarding today's recount via our Facebook and Twitter pages. So be sure to check in often for the latest information.

[Editor's note: The original version of this update incorrectly stated that it was Republican Party officials questionting the integrity of how the absentee ballots were handled. The article has been revised to reflect that it was, in fact, Democratic Party officials. East Haven Patch regrets the error.]

Original Story

There will not be one but two sets of candidates who will have their vote totals recounted during tomorrow morning's recanvassing at the Senior Center.

In addition to a required recount of the votes between , election officials will also be revisiting Tuesday's Election Day tallies for the fourth and final seat up for grabs this year on the Board of Finance.

According to the updated and revised official election results provided by the (which is posted in the gallery that accompanies this article), Republican candidate Marlene L Asid currently lays claim to the fourth and final finance board spot with 3,217 votes, while Democratic candidate Davd Garamella is the fifth highest vote-getter with 3,211.

And that's a change from . At that point, Garamella was on top with 3,210 votes to Asid's total of 3,207. It appeared, at that time, that Garamella had won the final seat by three votes.

But Republican Registrar of Voters Donna Norman told East Haven Patch in an email that the results were revised after "a mathematical error" was discovered in the initial tabulations and then corrected by the town's election officials.

Even if there was no change in vote tallies between the two candidates, however, a recount would still be required, as the current difference in votes between Garamella and Aside now sits at six.

And state law mandates an automatic recount if a vote margin between candidates is within one-half of 1 percent of the total votes cast.

Although there were slight vote total changes for a small handful of candidates in other races, no apparent changes in outcome were effected by the revised numbers.

The recanvassing at the Senior Center will begin at 10 a.m. The event is open to the public.

East Haven Patch will be at tomorrow's recount, posting updates to this site, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages.


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