TOP STORY: Recounts Possible in Old Lyme Due to Multiple Close Races

Posted on November 6, 2025 by admin

Poll worker Barbara Crowley watches closely as Fred Verillo, head moderator at Tuesday’s Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School polling place, collected the receipt from a new vote tabulator on Tuesday evening. LymeLine photo.

OLD LYME–Several tight races between members of the same party have triggered an automatic recount, but one affected candidate has already waived her right to the review process.

Only 13 votes separate Republican John Mesham and incumbent Republican Selectwoman Jude Read for a spot on the three member Board of Selectmen, based on returns announced Tuesday evening at the culmination of this year’s municipal election.

The results show Mesham, who lost the race for first selectman against incumbent Democrat Martha Shoemaker, had enough votes to secure a spot as selectman along with Shoemaker and incumbent Democrat Jim Lampos.

But state law requires a recount when the race is closer than 20 votes. The law also allows the lowest vote-getter in affected contests to call off the recount if they wish to accept the initial results.

Town Clerk Vicki Urbowicz on Thursday said Read is waiving her right to the recount, which is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 9 a.m. in the Town Hall.

Read did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

The race for three open Board of Finance alternate seats also spurred two sets of recounts due to close results and a state minority representation law that precludes all of the finance board’s three alternates from belonging to the same party.

The three highest vote-getters – Fred Behringer, Tom Walsh and Diane Y. Linderman – all ran under the Democratic banner. Behringer, who is unaffiliated but considered a Democrat under the state law because he was endorsed by the Democrats, was elected with 1,967 votes.

Urbowicz said the first recount affects the 7-vote difference between Walsh’s 1,955 votes and Linderman’s 1,948 votes. While the close vote would not typically matter in a race with three open seats, it’s significant this time around because the minority party representation rule says one of the seats needs to go to a Republican.

That means the highest vote-getter among the Republicans will be seated on the board – except that there’s a close vote there, too.

Only six votes separate Republican Maria Marchant, with 1,687 votes, and Republican Michael Presti, with 1,681.

Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Kimberly Thompson on Thursday said it was still “up in the air” whether Linderman would waive the recount. She said the candidates were notified by Town Clerk Vicki Urbowicz that Linderman has until the day of the recount to decide.

Urbowicz said she has not heard from the Republicans yet about whether the recount sparked by the close Marchant/Presti result will be waived.

Presti could not immediately be reached for comment.

TOP STORY: Old Lyme First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker Retains Seat in 2023 Repeat

Posted on November 5, 2025 by admin

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker on Tuesday night said she was excited to be reelected.

OLD LYME–Incumbent Democratic First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker held onto her seat in a virtual repeat of her 2023 run against Republican John Mesham despite a changed voting landscape that stretched out through an additional two weeks of early voting.

At least 60% of registered voters turned out to vote, based on preliminary totals from Election Day and early voting.

Unofficial numbers tallied at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School on Tuesday night gave the victory to Shoemaker with 1,938 votes to Mesham’s 1,808, a difference of 130 votes. Two years ago, the retired teacher beat the retired Connecticut state trooper by 123 votes, with 59% of voters turning out.

But this time, Mesham’s finish was strong enough to earn him a seat on the Board of Selectmen. That’s because the candidate finishing second in the first selectman race is automatically considered for one of the two remaining selectmen positions.

Mesham beat out incumbent Republican Jude Read, who earned 1,795 voters, to earn a seat alongside incumbent Democrat Jim Lampos, who collected 1,947.

Election Day tallies from the main polling precinct at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School looked strong for Republicans in almost every race when results came back shortly after 8 p.m. But after early voting, absentee and same day registration votes counted separately at the Town Hall were announced by Deputy Registrar of Voters Katherine Thuma, the results swung in the Democrats’ favor.

Thuma earlier on Tuesday said turnout over the 14-day early voting period consisted of 675 Democrats, 461 unaffiliated voters, 402 Republicans and 15 minor party voters.

She said there’s a total of 6,250 registered voters in town, including 2,546 unaffiliated voters, 1,963 Democrats, 1,644 Republicans and 97 minor party voters.

Shoemaker at the Town Hall after the results came in attributed her win to “hard work, excellent service in the Town Hall, and the ability for people to have their voices heard.”

The first selectwoman campaigned on a record that included overseeing flooding fixes in multiple shoreline sites and opening up the budget planning process to public scrutiny.

She cited pressing issues she’ll be focusing on including a referendum on the Sound View sewer project that is likely to happen in January, as well as the completion of the Grassy Hill Road Bridge project.

She said she and Lampos are honored to continue serving the town, and she will be happy to serve with Mesham.

“Hopefully the three of us will be able to do wonderful things for Old Lyme,” she said.

Republican John Mesham will serve on the Board of Selectmen with two Democrats: First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker and incumbent Selectman Jim Lampos.

Mesham in a phone call Tuesday evening acknowledged his team came up short despite a hard fought campaign.

He expressed surprise at the “the disparity” that gave Democrats the win despite Republicans’ strong showing on Election Day.

He said Republicans focused on early voting through absentee ballots, which yielded improved results over the previous municipal election.

He acknowledged it’s Democrats who tend to favor coming out during the 14-day early voting period.

“We knew that Republicans would vote strong on Election Day, and we really focused on getting a turnout today. And that worked,” he said.

The Republican campaign was energized by a groundswell of opposition to a plan from the Halls Road Improvements Committee, which was forwarded to the Zoning Commission by the Board of Selectmen, that could have allowed hundreds of apartments to be built on the commercially-zoned Halls Road.

They also called out Shoemaker for the $250 fine from the state Freedom of Information Commission that she paid after FOIC members agreed with a complaint from the Connecticut Examiner that she withheld public records related to alleged sexual misconduct at the local ambulance association.

Mesham was skeptical when asked about priorities he’d like to bring before the Board of Selectmen when he’s sworn in two weeks from now.

“It’s hard for me to bring priorities because I’m the minority,” he said of his status among the two incumbent Democrats. “They’ve pretty much had a history of blocking Jude (Read) out, so we’ll see what happens.”

Shoemaker, a retired 35-year teacher and 12-year union president, was selectwoman from 2021-23 before being elected first selectwoman. She did not run for reelection on the Region 18 Board of Education, where she is finishing her second term.

Mesham, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, retired from the Connecticut State Police in 2020 as a master sergeant after 29 years in law enforcement. He is a member of the Inland Wetlands Commission and a deputy registrar of voters.

TOP STORY: Election Day Turnout Steady in Lyme, Old Lyme as Poll Workers Roll Out New Voting Tabulators

Posted on November 4, 2025 by admin

Lyme Registrars of Voters Dottie Wells, D, and Judith Davies, R, said 374 voters had come out to vote on Election Day as of 1:20 p.m. All photos by olwenonline.com/.

LYME-OLD LYME–Voting officials in Lyme and Old Lyme on Election Day reported happy voters despite a glitch with one of the new tabulators in Lyme.

Lyme Registrars of Voters Dottie Wells, D, and Judith Davies, R, said there didn’t seem to be any problems with the Election Day tabulator in a previous test run or during the first hour of Election Day. But the machine around 7:20 a.m. spit back a ballot inserted face down by a voter, which was unusual because the machines are supposed to accept ballots inserted in any direction.

The problem ultimately affected four voters, though they were able to successfully cast their votes by inserting the ballots face up.

Officials tried to address the problem locally before calling in the tabulator’s vendor, Election Systems and Software (ES&S). A representative stationed in the area arrived at the Town Hall by 8 a.m., Wells said. Officials by midday did not know the cause of the problem, but were instructing all voters to insert their ballots face up as a workaround.

There are separate tabulators for early voting, absentee, same day and Election Day ballots. There is also a backup tabulator, Wells said.

The tabulator is one of about 2,500 new tabulators that replaced old scanners across the state this year as part of a $20 million package, according to reporting from CT News Junkie.

Wells said the first voter to experience the problem was understanding about having to wait for the poll workers to figure out what was going on.

“The voter was patient, and our staff was patient,” she said.

Lyme poll workers Liz Frankel, D, (left) and Leslie Lewis, R, handcounted early voting ballots on Election Day.

Wells and Davies described Election Day turnout as steady.

“People are happy to be here and doing their civic duty,” Wells said.

She said poll workers added two privacy booths to the six booths originally set up in the Town Hall meeting room in order to meet the demand.

Combined with early voting totals, turnout by 1:20 p.m. was at roughly 47% of total registered voters.

Lyme Registrar of Voters Judith Davies and Dottie Wells said early voting brought in 531 ballots from 253 Democrats, 165 unaffiliated voters, 103 Republicans and 9 minor party voters. While a breakdown of the affiliations of all registered voters wasn’t immediately available on Tuesday, data from Thomas’ office as of Oct. 17 shows there were 734 unaffiliated voters, 717 Democrats, 444 Republicans and 31 minor party voters, for a total of 1,926 voters.

Wells said 31 absentee ballots had been received as of Monday.

By 2 p.m., Old Lyme Head Moderator Fred Verillo said 1,040 voters had come out since the polls opened at 6 a.m. on Election Day.

Over at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School, Old Lyme Head Moderator Fred Verillo came back from guiding a resident with a disability through the process of using the town’s accessible voting system – which allowed the voter to listen to an audio version of the ballot while using a touchscreen – to describe “a robust turnout” at the polls. By 2 p.m., he said 1,040 voters had filed through the town’s one polling place.

“I’m happy because our voters are happy,” he said.

He said the new tabulators were running efficiently with no problems. He predicted they would make the overall tabulation process go more quickly and quietly.

The machines use paper ballots and are not connected to the internet, according to CT News Junkie.

“It’s so much better,” Verillo said. “I think we’re serving our community very well.”

Early voting brought in 1,553 ballots and absentee voters accounted for 155 ballots, according to Deputy Registrar of Voters Katherine Thuma.

Old Lyme poll workers Michael Reiter (left) and Patrice Scavone handcount early voting ballots on Election Day.

Thuma around midday said the total number of registrations in town, including two same-day registrations filed on Tuesday, amounted to 2,546 unaffiliated voters, 1,963 Democrats, 1,644 Republicans and 97 minor party voters.

Between the start of early voting and 2 p.m. Tuesday, about 28% of those registered voters had come out to vote.

UPDATED: Early Voters In CT Top 170,000, With Just Over 2,000 from Lyme and Old Lyme

Posted on November 4, 2025 by admin

Lyme Republican Registrar of Voters Judith Davies (right) and Democratic Moderator Mary Stone work an 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. schedule on Tuesday, Oct. 28.

Editor’s Note: This story was first published on Nov. 3 as a Staff Report by CT News Junkie, and is republished here with their permission. The Lyme and Old Lyme data has been added by Elizabeth Regan.

Before polls opened this morning for Election Day, more than 170,000 Connecticut residents had already cast a ballot.

That includes 1,553 early voters in Old Lyme and 530 in Lyme, according to local voting officials.

Data from Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas’ office shows voters also returned more than 20,000 absentee ballots, which will be counted today.

In Old Lyme, Deputy Registrar of Voters Katherine Thuma said turnout over the 14-day early voting period consisted of 675 Democrats, 461 unaffiliated voters, 402 Republicans and 15 minor party voters. That’s compared to total registered voters as of Tuesday that totaled 2,546 unaffiliated voters, 1,963 Democrats, 1,644 Republicans and 97 minor party voters.

By mid-day Tuesday, Thuma said 155 absentee ballots had been processed.

Lyme Registrar of Voters Judith Davies and Dottie Wells said early voting brought in 253 Democrats, 165 unaffiliated voters, 103 Republicans and 9 minor party voters. While a breakdown of the affiliations of all registered voters wasn’t immediately available on Tuesday, data from Thomas’ office as of Oct. 17 shows there were 734 unaffiliated voters, 717 Democrats, 444 Republicans and 31 minor party voters.

Wells said 31 absentee ballots had been received as of Monday.

Of the 170,920 early voters to cast a ballot as of Nov. 2, 83,479 are registered Democrats, and 36,525 are Republicans. Another 48,830 are not affiliated with either party and 2,085 are classified as “other,” Thomas’ office said.

Of the 20,197 absentee ballots, Democrats returned 10,277 and Republicans 4,402 with 5,299 unaffiliated and 219 others.

These totals are audited throughout the early voting period, according to Thomas’ office.

Stratford, driven by a contentious mayor’s race, continues to lead the way with 4,743 early voters, followed by Milford with 4,414, Greenwich with 3,706 and Hamden with 3,679. Trumbull (3,616) rounded out the top 5. The rest of the 10 top early voting communities were Norwalk (3,481), Fairfield (3,410), West Hartford (3,057), Stamford (2,771), and Bristol (2,744).

Last year, in a presidential election year, nearly 750,000 voters took advantage of early voting to cast a ballot. That represented just under a third of Connecticut’s 2.3 million registered voters.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated with early voting and voter registration totals from Old Lyme voting officials and again with additional Lyme numbers.

Still Deciding? Here Are All Our Lyme/Old Lyme-Related Election Articles, Candidate Q & A’s, and Letters to Help

Posted on November 4, 2025 by admin

Incumbent First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker (left to right) is running against Republican John Mesham in Old Lyme, while Republican Tom St. Louis challenges unaffiliated, Democrat-backed candidate Christy Zelek in Lyme.

LYME/OLD LYME–Still making up your mind how to cat your vote? We’ve compiled all our election coverage in one place to help you make an informed decision.

If you haven’t already voted, don’t forget to cast that ballot before the clock runs out. Get the details here.

Read on to explore the candidates and issues through our original reporting, the candidates’ own voices, and perspectives from neighbors across Lyme and Old Lyme.

Election Reporting

Rare First Selectman Contest in Lyme Pits Corporate Experience Against Volunteer Approach

Focus on Kids and Community—Not Politics—Dominates Region 18 Candidates’ Friendly Forum

Shoemaker, Mesham Back for Another First Selectman Run in Old Lyme

Failed Halls Road Overlay Makes Way for Election Day in Old Lyme

With Democrats Absent, Republican Couple Takes Center Stage at Lyme Candidate Forum

‘It Matters That You Vote’: Lyme Residents Turn Out Early for Familiar Election Day Ritual

Old Lyme Democrats Announce First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker’s Bid for Reelection

Old Lyme Republicans Announce Nomination of John Mesham in Rematch for First Selectman

Lyme Republicans Endorse Tom St. Louis for First Selectman

Lyme Democrats Support Unaffiliated Petitioning Candidate Christy Zelek for First Selectman

Candidate Q&A Series