Election Day in Middletown: Gov. Malloy Stumps for Mayor Drew

With the unofficial tallies from all but three districts in, for the mayor's race, Daniel Drew has 1,857 votes to John Kilian's 353. 

• Mayor Dan Drew Overwhelmingly Wins Second Term

The candidates have begun trickling in to council chambers to see town clerk and registrar of voters staff's reporting of numbers. 

Updated 7 p.m.

By 6 p.m., districts had reported 5,838 turned out at the polls, or 26.54 percent of registered voters, according to the registrar's office. 

Updated: 4 p.m.

Clad in dark jeans and a bright orange sweater, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy swept in to Middletown Democratic headquarters to work the phones for Mayor Dan Drew's re-election bid.

At 3 p.m., Malloy was greeted with cheers and applause as he joined the mayor at Main Street Market, then promptly began calling voters. "This is a great operation for a town that doesn't have a mayoral election," he said. "I like it."

"Governor, we're so pleased you're here with us today," Drew said. "Hopefully, a year from now, we'll be right back here re-electing Gov. Malloy."

Drew has no Republican challenger, but a third-party opponent, Realistic Balance candidate John Kilian.

The registrar's office says by 3 p.m.,  18.56 percent of Middletown's registered voters, or 4,083, had visited the polls. 

There are 21,994 registered voters in Middletown; 10,421 Democrats, 3,331 Republicans, 8,009 Independents and 256 others. In the city's 2011 municipal election, 9,551 voters or 42.39 percent turned out.

Republican Town Committee Chair Ken McClellan said his party was well-poised to win some seats. "The phone calls we've been making and the response we've been getting has been very positive," he said. "A lot of people are dissatisfied with the way Democrats are handling things."

Original Story

The city's registrar says she's pleased with voter turnout Tuesday just short of halfway through Election Day.

By noon, 13 percent of Middletown's registered voters had cast their ballots in the municipal election — 2,841 in all — at the city's 14 precincts.

Twenty-five residents registered to vote today at city hall, according to Republican Registrar of Voters Janice Gionfriddo. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a law on May 5, 2012, allowing same-day registration.

"That's is not bad, considering it's brand new," Gionfriddo says. "We didn't think we would get so many."

Democratic Mayor Dan Drew, who's running for a second term, says he's been out to several polling places already and met Speaker of the House Sharkey at Wesley Elementary School midday.

For the first time, the city's election returns will come in at common council chambers from the moderators at each precinct in hopes of avoiding a crowd of people waiting for results in the waiting area of the town clerk's office.

At Macdonough Elementary School, North End Action Team Executive Director Bobbye Knoll and office manager Sonia Balram manned a table full of voting information. "We just want to make sure people get information and they know who they're voting for," Knoll days. "Oftentimes we get people voting for who's been on before so we just offer everyone all the information so they can ask questions, see the ballot, specifically with referendum questions."

There are two referendum questions this year in Middletown — a $13.2 million payment to join the Mattabassett Sewer District and a $14.1 million upgrade of city roads and sidewalks.

Republican Common Councilmen Joseph Bibisi and Phil Pessina, who are running independently this cycle after their party failed to nominate them during its caucus, were also at Macdonough talking to voters. Pessina was joined by his 11-year-old grandson Owen.

"I'm feeling a little cautious, but a good cautious," he says. "What's been more heartwarming to me is people coming up to me saying, 'we're voting for you because we're tired of the politics.'"

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