Arguing that residents were cheated in the November election, South Windsor Democrats are appealing a court decision that leaves a Republican councilor in office even though he got 910 fewer votes than a Democrat opponent.
Several Democratic leaders from central Connecticut joined attorney John B. Kennelly outside the Hartford Judicial District courthouse Monday to announce an appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Kennelly represents Harrison Amadasun, a Democratic candidate in the November election who lost the race for town council because of the town’s freshly approved ordinance limiting majority party representation. The rule, intended to foster bipartisanship, keeps any party from winning more than five of the nine town council seats.
But Amadasun and Kennelly contend that rule was too new to apply to the Nov. 4 election — because voters approved it on the same day they gave Amadasun 910 more votes than Republican opponent Richard Balboni Jr.
“The officials in the town decided that all the votes for my client don’t matter ‘because we decided to change the law afterwards and we’re going to apply it to the past’,” Kennelly said. “That doesn’t make common sense.”
At issue is which results from the Nov. 4 election takes precedence: The charter change or the Amadasun vs. Balboni race. By large margins, voters chose to restrict majority party power but also chose Amadasun over Balboni.
If Amadasun is given a seat on the council, Democrats would have six seats, a super-majority in violation of the majority party limitation. But putting Balboni in office meant that Amadasun’s voters didn’t get the candidate they chose.
Democrats contend the charter change was never intended to take effect immediately, but rather with the 2027 election. However, the ballots that voters got on Nov. 4 didn’t specify a date.
Democrats sued right after the election, and District Court Judge Susan Cobb in mid-December dismissed the case. She contended that by law, Amadasun would only have a case if he proved he’d been damaged by “an election official.”
But his lawsuit was against Town Clerk Bonnie Armstrong, who had published election results declaring Balboni as the winner. Since Armstrong isn’t an election official, Amadasun couldn’t sue to overturn her action, Cobb ruled.
South Windsor Republicans have maintained that immediately acting on the charter change was the best way to uphold the will of the voters. Changing that decision would hurt democracy, they’ve said.
Democrats took a different view Monday.
“As a former mayor of South Windsor and now a state senator, I know firsthand how essential it is to respect the will of the voters and the integrity of local democracy,” said Democratic state Sen. Saud Anwar.
“It’s a sad day in this country when people’s constitutional rights aren’t being protected,” U.S. Rep. John Larson told the press conference. “It seems to be a growing trend, it’s happening down in Washington, D.C., where people take the Constitution as a suggestion.”
Larson’s political rival Luke Bronin, the former Hartford mayor, and Rep. Jillian Gilchrest also attended to condemn the judge’s decision.
“Fundamentally, this case is about a simply principle: The person who received the most votes should serve those who voted for him,” Bronin told reporters. “The voters are being denied the representation they chose.”
Gilchrest, who like Bronin is challenging Larson’s bid for the Democratic nomination, said “We are seeing across this country our process be torn apart. When certain people don’t like the results of an election, they’ve been making up their own rules.”
Kennelly filed an appeal Monday with the Connecticut Supreme Court, and said he expects that with an expedited scheduling it will be possible to begin a hearing within about a month. Democrats are asking the courts to declare the town clerk’s directive was wrong and to name Amadasun winner of the election, then order the town to replace Balboni with Amadasun on the council.