Paul Bass Photo
Ward 25 Democratic committee members Nicholas Neeley and Malcom Welfare tally results as James Berger reads out the votes.
Mayor Justin Elicker picked up two more resounding votes of support this weekend in straw polls held by Democratic ward committees.
He won all seven votes of those participating in a poll Saturday of members of the Ward 27 Democratic committee. The ward covers the Beverly Hills/Amity neighborhood as well as portions of Beaver Hills, West Hills, and Westville. Elicker supporters from the ward included Alder Richard Furlow.
The ward was split in the 2019 Democratic mayoral primary, casting 189 votes for then incumbent Toni Harp and 181 for Elicker.
On Sunday, Elicker picked up 31 votes from members of the Ward 25 Democratic committee. Challenger Karen DuBois-Walton picked up 12 votes; challenger Mayce Torres, zero. One person abstained. The 25th Ward has become the highest-voting precinct in the city.
Beaver Hills/Beverly Hills Alder Richard Furlow: In Elicker’s corner this year.
Elicker, who is seeking the party nomination for a second two-year term, previously won shut-out votes in the East Rock wards, 9 & 10. DuBois-Walton won the vote 19 – 1 in West Hills/West Rock’s Ward 30.
These ward committee straw polls are non-binding; not all wards have conducted them in the past. They offer an early take on how candidates are faring, at least with the party rank and file. Each ward’s two co-chairs are supposed to take the will of their ward committees into consideration when they cast votes to endorse a mayoral candidate at a July 27 citywide Democratic Party convention.
In Ward 25, the co-chairs in the past have honored the ward committee vote at the citywide convention even if they personally supported a different candidate.
This box served a practical function as a Ward 25 ballot depository while making an artistic statement about the state of democracy in the U.S.
Ward 25 committee members dropped off their votes over the course of a couple of hours Sunday afternoon in a box outside the home of Co-Chair Janis Underwood. A few waited until the final minutes before the 6 p.m. deadline to cast their ballots. One such last-minute voter made phone calls on the sidewalk for advice while struggling to pick between Elicker and DuBois-Walton.
Alder Adam Marchand said he, too, had trouble deciding how to vote. “They’re both really substantial candidates,” he said, praising Elicker’s leadership during the Covid-19 crisis and DuBois-Walton’s record rebuilding quality developments as executive director of the Housing Authority of New Haven. Marchand declined to disclose how he ended up voting; he said he plans to support whoever wins the citywide party’s endorsement.
25th Ward Democratic Co-Chair Janis Underwood with the ballot, which included the names of uncontested candidates for the party nominations for alder, city/town clerk and Board of Education.