Election Results

All four top office incumbents won today -- Mayor Boughton, Treasurer Dan Jowdy, City Clerk Jean Natale, and Town Clerk Lori Kaback. Boughton won by over 3,500 votes. No real unofficial numbers have been released on the other top races.

The Common Council will stay in Republican control. The biggest news here is that Lynn Taborsak did not win in the third ward. Republican incumbents won wards one, two, three, and seven. Wards four, five, and six went to the incumbent Democrats. It appears as though Republicans won at least six out of the seven Council at Large seats. The last seat is to close to call.

The bottom line here is that the Republicans had a very strong showing, and did very well considering the attacks by the Democrats in the final weeks. Much more to come. Even though the election is over, it doesn't mean our coverage is. Check back later to see more.

Election Day!

Today is the most important day of the year. All citizens registered to vote should take advantage of the democratic process, and fulfill their civic duty to vote. If you don't know where to vote here is a list of the voting locations:

Ward 1-Danbury High School
Ward 2-Pembroke School
Ward 3-Broadview Middle School
Ward 4-Shelter Rock School
Ward 5-War Memorial
Ward 6-Park Avenue School
Ward 7-Mill Ridge Intermediate

It is sure going to be an exciting day. Who knows whats going to happen. Just make sure you make your voice heard -- go vote!

Our Endorsement For Mayor

Before reading this I hope everyone understands that this is just our endorsement for Mayor, and however you take it is up to you. Many of you may not agree with the choice, and that's okay. Whatever the case, make sure you vote on Tuesday, and take advantage of the democracy government that we have in place. Make your voice heard!

This year incumbent Republican Mark Boughton is facing Democrat Helena Abrantes for Mayor. Boughton was a former history teacher at Danbury High School, and former State Representative. He was elected Mayor in 2001 by only 139 votes, but easily won re-election in 2003 and 2005. Abrantes served on the Common Council during the 1990's, and is also a former City Clerk. She lost her bid for a second term in 2003, and since has opened a family restaurant named Atlantic Restaurant.

This year, accomplishments as well as a vision for the future needs to be what we look at when supporting a certain candidate. In his six years in office, Boughton has done a lot for the city. He has focused heavily on education, and renovating our schools. He has built a new Fire Station on the west side of our city, and has a new Police Department being built. He has presented a new plan to preserve open space, and started an impressive city call line -- 311.

Abrantes criticizes Boughton on tax breaks given to developers, higher taxes, and not doing enough to improve and attract people to the downtown area. She says she would like to do many things if elected, such as add twenty-four new police officers, preserve more open space and keep our environment clean, improve downtown, and fix traffic problems. All very bold beliefs and ideas.

Abrantes also says Boughton went the wrong direction when confronting the issue of illegal immigration. Though she has valid points, the Mayor has confronted the problem, which is a very serious problem. He has tried heavily to influence talk within the federal government to address this issue. Though it's a national issue, it may never get discussed to a great degree without the influence of local residents throughout the country. That's what we've seen in this city.

This election also needs to be about the future. We have serious overcrowding issues within our school system, who have to make traffic improvements, and attract more people and businesses to the city, as well as many others. We need to elect someone who can deal with these problems.

Abrantes has run on a message that "Danbury can do better", and of course it can. Boughton says that he wants to continue to make Danbury the “greatest place to live, work, and be educated." Though Abrantes has come up with bold ideas, it is puzzling how she would go about them, and get the funding needed to support them. Yes -- Danbury can be better, but it is not in bad shape, and not headed in the wrong direction.

Based on his record of accomplishments, and ability to get thing done, Mark Boughton has earned a fourth term as Mayor.

The Final Weekend

This weekend both Democrats and Republicans are out in full force trying to get the vote out. Driving around the city today I saw pamphlets for both sides, as it has become clear that many races will be determined by whoever wins the get out the vote effort.

So, what do you think is going to happen? This may be one of the most interesting local elections we'll see. Just three days left!

Abrantes Has TV Ad

Democratic mayoral candidate Helena Abrantes has released a TV ad. It targets Mayor Boughton, and questions his leadership. Here is a transcript of the ad:

Irresponsible development means more traffic congestion. Tax giveaways for big residential developers means more taxes for us.

As our mayor Helena Abrantes wants to restore vision, hope, respect, and results for Danbury.

Helena Abrantes: leadership, experience, respect for community, respect for family.

Elect Helana Abrantes Mayor. Danbury can do better.

With only four days to go, this race, along with many others are going to be very interesting to see the outcome of.

News-Times Endorses Boughton

The News-Times endorsed Mayor Mark Boughton for a forth term today. You can read it here.


Boughton's accomplishments seemed to be why the chose him, as they mentioned them. Here is probably the biggest reason behind the endorsement of the Mayor:

Schools have been expanded. Construction has begun on a new police headquarters. Construction has been completed on a westside firehouse. The ugly battle between Boughton and the police union over a contract has been resolved.

However, they did criticize Boughton's leadership skills, but in the end said he was best qualified. Remember, this Sunday we will be making our endorsement for Mayor.

Very Important Voting Information

Get ready for one of the most confusing posts you will ever read. However, it's also probably one of the most important one's you'll ever read too. This post is going to explain the ballot for this year's election, and explain how the votes for different races are really counted.

To begin with, the four top races for the office of Mayor, City Treasurer, City Clerk, and Town Clerk are all the same. Like many would expect the candidate with the most votes of the two wins. It's simply by popular vote.

Now onto the somewhat confusing races. The Common Council at Large consists of seven elected members. There are six Democrats and seven Republicans running. The way this works is the top seven people that earn the most votes, of the total thirteen candidates, are elected. For example, all seven Republicans could win, or five Democrats could win and only two Republicans.

Okay, that's not that confusing, right? Well, it's only going to get more fun! When it comes to electing candidates for the Council by wards, many people get confused about who wins. As many know, each ward gets two Council members. Each party runs two candidates, for a total of four candidates. The top two candidates with the most votes win. Many believe that a ward has to elect both Republicans, or both Democrats, but that is not true. In fact, the first ward used to have one member from each party representing them. This doesn't happen often, but if you have two well known candidates running from opposite parties, that are well liked by the public then it is definitely possible. Currently, each ward has two Council members from the same party, but that could very well change this year.

The Board of Education can get very confusing, especially this year. Democrats hold a 6-5 majority, which they will still hold this year because they have three seats up for bid, and the Republicans also have three seats up. However, there is also one more seat up for grabs because of the death of a former Republican school board member. The Republican who filled the seat at the time, Richard Jannelli, is running for it this year. He will win automatically because the Democrats did not run anyone for that one seat. Like mentioned earlier, each party has three open seats. The Democrats chose to run just three candidates, and they will all win because they only have three spots to fill. The Republicans nominated six people (the most they can for the school board) to fill their three seats. So, actually the Republicans will be running against each other because the top three vote getter's of the six will win the three open seats. Just to note the Republicans can't try to earn the majority because each party has the same number of seats up for grabs. They had the chance in 2005 when each party was guaranteed two seats, and the fifth seat was up for grabs. Republicans could have won the seat by earning more votes than the Democrat, but they did not. This can only happen when a Republican Mayor is running for re-election.

The Zoning Commission elects nine people. The majority can only be a 5-4 member ratio, which Republicans currently have. The top four candidates of each party will win. The ninth seat is filled by comparing the Republican with the fifth highest votes to the Democrat with the fifth highest vote. Whoever has more votes, wins the seat, giving their party the majority. It is slightly similar to the Board of Education.

The Zoning Commission Alternates are also chosen like the regular Zoning members are. However, instead of nine members, there are only three. Each party definitely gets one person, and the third person is decided by putting the second highest candidate of each party's results up against each other. Whoever has more votes win the seats, and gives their party the majority.

Constables are also elected this way. There are five of them. The top two of each party win, and then head to head results are compared between the next closest candidate of each party. The one with more votes win, and gives their party the majority.

To wrap it up, though some candidates have their names placed above and below each other, they are technically not solely running against them. The only ones that do truly run against each other are the races for the top four offices.

Gee, it sure can get confusing, but it's very important information to know!