ANSONIA, CT — The losing candidate (as of publication time) in the election to represent the state Senate’s 17th District rallied with about 30 supporters in front of City Hall Monday to keep all eyes on Ansonia as a recount in the race proceeds.
Democrat Jorge Cabrera said he organized the rally Monday after he and his family went through a “rollercoaster of emotions” since Election Day.
Both campaigns thought Logan held a small lead last Tuesday after polls closed.
Then, on Wednesday morning, the Secretary of the State’s website showed Cabrera had won.
Cabrera said he spent the day celebrating with his family and supporters — only to get a rude awakening Thursday during a lunch in Hartford for newly elected Democratic legislators.
The prospective lawmakers had just finished the salad course when a lawyer working for the Senate Democratic caucus asked Cabrera to step outside.
The news wasn’t good.
“He said Ansonia had re-submitted their numbers.”
Instead of winning the race by 187 votes, the results now showed Cabrera losing by 65.
“All of us were left scratching our heads wondering what had happened,” Cabrera said.
The change occurred after Logan’s campaign had dispatched its lawyers to Ansonia, because final results on the Secretary of the State’s website differed from the campaigns’ tallies there.
They discovered what Democratic Registrar of Voters Thomas Maffeo called a “transcription error” that resulted in the 252-vote swing.
Click here to keep reading the Valley Independent Sentinel’s report.