New Britain Votes at Issue at State Democratic Hearing on 5th District Endorsement

The State Democratic Party will hold a hearing on June 7th on complaints filed about the Fifth District Democratic Convention, including complaints about New Britain delegate votes.

The convention resulted in Democratic party endorsement for former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, while Waterbury educator Jahana Hayes and New Britain Ald. Manny Sanchez (D-AL) qualified to primary for the party nomination. Sanchez has since decided not to proceed with a primary challenge.

In a letter forwarded by the New Britain Branch of the NAACP, Samuel Carmody, Director of Party Affairs for the Connecticut Democrats says that, “James Monroe, who had served as a delegate to the 5th Congressional District Convention from the Town of Waterbury, has filed a complaint on behalf of the Connecticut State Conference of NAACP Branches.” The letter also says that a complaint was filed by Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary (D).

One of the allegations cited in the letter is that, “There were irregularities with the documentation of vote switches made by delegates from the Town of New Britain.”

When the second ballot of voting began at the convention, the vote was nearly tied between Glassman and Hayes, but Hayes had more votes than Glassman. New Britain’s delegates split in favor Glassman, but with many delegates voting for Hayes. With the voting still open, three New Britain delegates apparently switched from supporting Hayes to Glassman, and when the balloting closed, Glassman had the majority vote to win the endorsement.

But, according to CTMirror, controversy has been generated by paperwork from New Britain Democrats that identified only one delegate vote whose vote was switched from Hayes to Glassman.

The other two subjects of the complaints are that, “The first ballot had more votes cast than the number of credentialed delegates who had registered,” and that, “The length of time the second ballot vote remained open was excessive.”

The letter says that Democratic State Central Committee Chairman Nick Balletto, “has appointed the panel for the Dispute Resolution Committee,” adding that, “The complainants, the respondents, and the campaigns who participated in the convention will have an opportunity to present their point of view at the hearing and answer questions from the committee.”

The panel will meet on June 7, 2018 at 6:00pm at the Connecticut Democratic Party Offices. which are located at 30 Arbor Street, Suite 106A, in Hartford.