(L-R): Jessica Buchanan and Michele Semper.
One of two Democratic candidates for the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) who tied for a seat following an official recount Saturday has decided to withdraw from the First District race. The First District is located in the heart of town.
Michele Sember, who tied for the RTM seat, decided to withdraw in favor of Jessica Buchanan. Both women had discussed a course of action during the recount and after being given several options. Initially Sember suggested they share the seat but that was not possible under current law. The RTM, the town’s legislative body, has 30 members representing seven election districts.
In the end it apparently seemed better to take charge of the situation as opposed to leaving it to a coin toss, especially after a long campaign.
In an interview last night Sember explained to the Eagle her reasons for withdrawing. “Jess is younger and she is independent. I think she can do a better job and I told her I would help her in any way. Yes, we were neck in neck. But I am still going to stay involved. “
According to the Town Charter, they could have engaged in what was essentially a coin toss or drawing a name from a hat, an event that would take place at the Town Clerk’s office, according to the Town Charter. That was one option, one that had to be decided within two weeks. Another option, one that was less realistic, was to petition for another election. Or one of them could withdraw.
Each thought about it. On Sunday, the day after the tie vote was announced, Sember emailed Buchanan. “She said, give me a call,” Buchanan said in an interview. “So I did. And she explained to me that she was going to withdraw from the race. She said she had slept on it and thought about it and that’s what she wanted to do.”
“I was ready to go to the town clerk’s office and pull it out of a hat if that what was going to happen,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan, 27, said that Sember wanted “to remain involved and work with the Democratic Town Committee (DTC) and help me. It’s been a wild ride…. I am eager to get to work.”
During the recount at the Registrar of Voters office Saturday they sat next to each other and talked often about the events unfolding before them. The municipal election took place on Nov. 7.
Recounting the Votes
As we reported earlier, Sember and Buchanan were within one vote of each other (Buchanan at 572 and Sember at 571) when the votes were counted. A recount was called under state law. They arrived at the Registrar of Voters Office Saturday at 9 a.m.
Four hours later, when John Mooney, the head election moderator, announced the recount outcome, their one vote difference became a tie vote with each arriving at 573 votes. Sember went up two votes; Buchanan went up one.
It turns out that the Town Charter anticipated this reality, saying that within two weeks of a tie vote there would be a drawing or a coin toss in the town clerk’s office. The drawing would be “by lot in the presence of at least three disinterested witnesses,” the charter says. The chief presiding officer would notify the candidates of the event. Once the drawing took place, the person chosen would be deemed elected “and qualified as an RTM member.”
At the moment there is no chief presiding officer or moderator because the incoming 2018 RTM is not sworn in until Tuesday, Nov. 21.
The recount centered on the original 1,247 District 1 ballots cast by voters on Election Day in the district for the RTM seats. There was also a recanvas of the 48 absentee ballots and the one Election Day vote. The ballots were all put through a counting machine. Election moderators from the election districts (there are seven in Branford) worked studiously for four hours.
Everyone connected with the official recount concluded Sember and Buchanan had tied. The candidates took the outcome with grace.
Eight candidates ran for six seats from the First District. The top vote getter was longtime Republican RTM member Frank Twohill, who brought in 680 votes. He was followed by Republican RTM member Jennifer Zambrano with 671 votes.
(L-R): Standing: Jennifer Zambrano and George David Wells.
A third candidate requiring a recount was current Republican RTM member George David Wells who won 576 votes, a number that put him near to Sember and Buchanan. State law typically requires a recount if a candidate is within 20 votes of another. Wells gained one vote in the recount, bringing him to 577. He won his seat.
Wells was delighted. “I am honored to serve again,” he told the Eagle. “I am glad it worked out the way it did. I am curious to see how the rest of it goes. I am sure however it sorts itself out will be fine,” he said as he looked at the two potential RTM members in waiting.
Now their wait is over.
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