Election 2023

Letter to the Editor

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The New Canaan Republican Town Committee and its candidates achieved impressive election wins on November 7. The RTC’s campaign strategy was implemented effectively by dozens of volunteers who worked countless hours in support of policies and candidates they believe in. The party is rightly celebrating its victory. However, unknown to much of New Canaan and apparently unknown to the candidates, an unsavory incident occurred in the final weeks of the campaign that could taint our memories of the RTC’s election success. It involved a personal attack on a Democrat opponent, the kind of campaign tactic that should be abhorrent to all who value civility in our local politics.

Election 2023

Election 2023: New Canaan Hub [UPDATED]

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[Election results can be found here.]

Update 4 p.m.

More than one-third of New Canaan electors had cast ballots in this year’s local election with just four hours of voting remaining (see table below). Giacomo Landi, an unaffiliated candidate for a four-year term on the Board of Education, said he was “feeling good” when NewCanaanite.com interviewed him outside the polling place at New Canaan High School on Tuesday. 

“It’s great to be out, seeing all these people voting, even despite the weather with a little rain this morning,” Landi said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Two Republican candidates for the BOE—incumbent Hugo Alves, seeking a two-year BOE term, and Lara Kelly, seeking a four-year term—agreed that foot traffic was busy on Tuesday morning. “I’m feeling great,” Kelly said. “We have a really great turnout which has been awesome to see this early in the morning, and we hope it continues.”

Alves said that Election Day is his favorite time of the campaign “not just because it’s over but because we get to see everybody, and just hopefully bring it home.”

Update 12 p.m.

Voters at midday appeared to be on track to approach overall turnout from 2021 (see table below). 

Matt Campbell, a Republican running for the Board of Education, said from outside the polling place at Saxe Middle School that he’s “feeling good” about the day.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Editorial: Thank You, Dionna and Amy

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Take a minute to thank Dionna Carlson and Amy Murphy Carroll. Two of New Canaan’s most capable community volunteers raised their hands this summer because they’d grown concerned about the approach, tone and direction at the top level of our municipal government. Turns out nearly eight in 10 Republicans agreed. Yet at the time that Carlson (a Republican) and Murphy Carroll (a Democrat) announced, it was only rumored that the incumbent first selectman would seek an unimaginable fourth term, which of course he did. 

Agreeing, if it came to it, to face off against someone with a track record of slighting perceived enemies required considerable strength and resolve. (We give credit here, too, to Republican Kimberly Norton, a Town Councilman who threw her hat in the GOP Caucus ring.)

It also required a willingness to absorb discomfort for the good of the town.

Board of Education

Election 2023: NewCanaanite.com Endorsements for Board of Education 

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We thank all candidates for the Board of Education for running—an act of generosity and care for the community that, sadly, is met at times with ignorance and vitriol. The following appears in the state statute that establishes Boards of Education in Connecticut towns (Sec. 10-221):
“Each local and regional board of education shall develop, adopt and implement written policies and procedures to encourage parent-teacher communication. These policies and procedures may include monthly newsletters, required regular contact with all parents, flexible parent-teacher conferences, drop-in hours for parents, home visits and the use of technology such as homework hot lines to allow parents to check on their children’s assignments and students to receive assistance if needed. Such policies and procedures shall require the district to conduct two flexible parent-teacher conferences for each school year.”
That’s 87 words within a 790-word section on Board of Ed procedures.

Christa Kenin

Town Clerk: Absentee Balloting ‘Steady’ for Nov. 7 Election

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Local officials said Tuesday that they’ve issued 516 total absentee ballots for the Nov. 7 municipal election, and have received back 305 to count. The overall figures appear to be rising as a result of COVID-19, when larger numbers of residents availed themselves of absentee voting. Even so, data indicate that absentee voting will be down from the midst of the pandemic two years ago, according to Town Clerk Claudia Weber. While the town counted just 158 absentee ballots for the local election in 2019—a year that saw a contested first selectman race—the total jumped to 453 in 2021, Weber said.