Maltese Vs. Maturo: Timeline For Decision On Lawsuit Released

By Jack Kramer

EAST HAVEN, CT – Two days of testimony in a lawsuit filed by the loser of the Nov. 7th mayoral election asking for a recount wrapped up on Monday. The judge said she will issue her ruling by 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

The lawsuit’s primary claim is the rejection of absentee ballots by Republican Town Clerk Stacy Gravino.

All voting machines, ballots, and absentee ballots cast in the election have been impounded until further notice from the court.

Joseph Maturo, the Republican incumbent, won the election by 105 votes, getting 3,648 votes to Maltese’s 3,543, a margin of about 1 percent of the vote. He is represented by Marcus Law. The lawsuit names the town of East Haven, Maturo, Gravino, Albert Fucci, Donna Norman, and the Secretary of the State’s office as defendants.

The lawsuit, filed by losing Democrat Mayoral candidate Salvatore Maltese, claims there were 596 applications for absentee ballots and that “an unknown number were rejected by her (Gravino). The reasons for the rejection of the ballots have not been publicly expressed," the complaint states.

The complaint goes onto claim there were few if any witnesses to the counting of absentee ballots.

"The tallying of absentee ballots occurred without the moderator or Registrar of the Democratic Party, nor was a recount offered," the complaint states. "The discrepancies in the number of absentee ballots results in additional votes for the Defendant Maturo which affect the results of the election in his favor."

Gravino herself won re-election in the Town Clerk’s race, but also by a close margin of about 200 votes.

The complaint further states that members of the Republican Party were within 75 feet of a polling place during election hours, a violation of state law.

It goes onto to allege there were discrepancies with polling machines in District 5.

The lawsuit said that Maltese would have won the election if the issues didn’t occur before the election with the absentee ballots – and – the improprieties didn’t exist on Election Day.

The complaint asks: “To schedule a recanvassing, review and recount of the ballots for the general municipal election.”

Photo by Jack Kramer