Late Absentee Ballots Don't Affect Outcome Of Stratford Primary

STRATFORD, CT — The return numbers changed Thursday in Stratford’s primary for Democratic registrar of voters, but the final outcome was the same. With every ballot counted, newcomer James Simon still handily defeated longtime registrar Rick Marcone.

Simon emerged as the apparent winner Tuesday, but absentee ballots received before Thursday and postmarked for Tuesday still needed to be counted. With those last ballots tallied Thursday, Simon gained 172 votes and Marcone picked up another 51 votes. The complete vote totals are 2,731 for Simon and 1,192 for Marcone, according to Thursday’s return.

Marcone has been the registrar for 12 years, but in May the Stratford Democratic Town Committee endorsed former Town Council candidate Simon to run for the position. Marcone then petitioned to challenge Simon in the primary.

Simon is a scholar in residence at Southern Connecticut State University, whose priorities for the registrar’s office include addressing gerrymandering in town and cutting costs by scaling back the role of registrar to part-time.

Simon said Thursday that Marcone had officially conceded, but campaign season may not be over for Marcone, who has gained access to the November ballot as a petitioning candidate. Marcone, who prioritized pandemic safety and cybersecurity in the run-up to Tuesday, said Thursday he would make a decision next week about whether to proceed with his campaign.