Recount In Trumbull Town Council Race Decided By 1 Vote: Registrar

TRUMBULL, CT — A recount for the third seat in District 5 on the Town Council between Republican candidates John Foreman and Joe Pifko came down to a single vote, according to Democratic Registrar Jean Rabinow.

Rabinow confirmed Wednesday evening in an email to Patch the recount resulted in 817 votes for Foreman and 816 votes for Pifko.

Both candidates received less votes than the two Democratic candidates in the District 5 race.

According to vote totals shared by the shared by the Connecticut Secretary of State's Office as of Thursday evening, Matt Dunn received 901 votes and Tom Broderick received 897 votes.

Rabinow said a one-vote margin may be rare, however is not unheard of in Trumbull.

"I can think of a primary election for the Board of Education, probably about 20 or more years ago, that came down to one vote," Rabinow said.

She also pointed to the 2023 municipal election in which the decisive seat on the Town Council for District 3 was won by only two votes.

In that race, Republican candidate Richard Wolf received 939 votes and Democratic candidate Alissa Hall received 937 votes, according to the Secretary of State's Office.

Rabinow also noted one of the two votes in that 2023 race were found at recount.

While a one-vote difference could emphasize the importance of voting in local elections, Rabinow noted she is "of two minds" about it.

"On one hand, I want to yell 'vote! vote! vote!' to every registered voter," Rabinow said. "On the other hand, I've had voters tell me that they won't be voting this year because they don't know anything about any of the candidates, and I have to honor their reluctance to elect people they know nothing about."

According to Rabinow, voter turnout in Trumbull this year was about 52 percent, which she noted is "significantly better than Trumbull has done in recent local elections, when we averaged somewhere between 40 percent and 45 percent depending on the year."