The current year has been one of tragedy mixed with errors and misinformation. The nation has dealt with an election campaign that has been undermined by a President who has cast doubt on the integrity of our voting system. Doubt in the Presidential election is still being fanned, despite the fact that every credible source has confirmed the outcome as legitimate.
That doubt now has focused on a local race for the Ct 90th District State Representative between challenger Jim Jinks and incumbent Craig Fishbein. On a tumultuous election night, it was unclear who would emerge victorious. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Jinks campaign had numbers that led to the declaration of victory by over 300 votes. Both campaigns seemed to accept this outcome—as did the news media, who reported that the controversial incumbent Craig Fishbein had been defeated.
In the intervening days, Mr. Fishbein closed his state rep media accounts and Jim Jinks headed to the State House in Hartford to meet with his newly elected colleagues and the returning incumbents.
On Friday, a seemingly innocuous request from a member of the Wallingford Democratic Town Committee (DTC) threw the results of the Jinks-Fishbein race into question. District 2 co-leader Larry Morgenstein asked Town Clerk Barbara Thompson for the official results, as he has done for past elections.
These results produced a question of accuracy from DTC members, including Chair Alida Cella, when the results showed zero in-person votes at the District 7 polling at Yalesville/Fritz School for both the Jinks-Fishbein State Representative race and the Capone-Cicarella State Senate race in the 34th. The DTC already had numbers from in-person voting in District 7 from election evening that were at great variance with the “official” numbers from the Town Clerk that got submitted to the Secretary of State. Their concerns had to wait until Monday when the Town Clerk’s office opened.
Monday brought a quick response of thanks to Mr. Morgenstein from Town Clerk Barbara Thompson for pointing out the errors. Once the numbers from in-person voting at Yalesville were added back in, the outcome of the election dramatically changed, and Mr. Jinks was found to have lost to Mr. Fishbein by a mere 21 votes. This was stunning news and was picked up on media statewide and by some national outlets.
The results of this unexpected turn-around resulted in a cascade of unsubstantiated claims of fraud and deception. Despite the fact that the Wallingford Democratic Town Committee pointed out the errors, unfounded claims that the Democrats were rigging the elections locally and nationally were perpetuated.
Given the close results and the errors in reportage by the Town Clerk, a recount was ordered for Thursday November 12. At the close of day, Cheshire’s two districts in the 90th showed no net loss or gain for either Mr. Jinks or Mr. Fishbein, maintaining a sizable advantage for Mr. Jinks. In Wallingford night fell with the outcome still uncertain.
On Friday the 13th, ten full days after the election, it appeared that the recount was finished and that the incumbent Craig Fishbein had been re-elected. But the total amount of votes separating the two candidates again became subject to doubt and confusion. The Jinks campaign, which observed the recount, had numbers from the Town Clerk indicating a loss of 17 votes.
That should have been the end of it. Unfortunately, a local journalist from the Record Journal reported that the margin of victory was over 800 votes for Mr. Fishbein.
As of this writing, it is unclear how this error came about. The reporter stands by her claim that those numbers were the ones given by the Town Clerk. The Town Clerk denies any error in giving the numbers to the reporter. In an updated article on the recount, the Record Journal apologized for reporting the wrong vote totals. The apology was unclear in terms of who was responsible for the erroneous numbers.
The repercussions of this tragicomic opera will have immediate and long-term consequences. A public already fractured has more doubt in a process that relies on trust and transparency. Two candidates have suffered. There are questions as to whether Wallingford has the ability to administer an election and report an accurate outcome. The Record Journal now has a cloud over its reporting of local events in a time where trust of the media is often questioned.
As Mr. Morgenstein said on behalf of the Democratic Town Committee, “We wanted accurate numbers. Every vote needs to be counted. The integrity of the election has to come first.” It is amazing that such a simple concept became so tragically wrong when the community needed it to be so right.