Elicker Crushes Harp In Mayoral Election

by Paul Bass, Thomas Breen, Christopher Peak, & Melissa Bailey | Nov 5, 2019 11:49 pm

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Posted to: Politics, Campaign 2019

Justin Elicker is the next mayor of New Haven, after defeating incumbent Toni Harp by well more than a 2-1 margin in Tuesday’s election.

(Update Wednesday 7 p.m.) According to official results released Wednesday evening by the Registrar of Voters office, including absentee ballots, Elicker defeated Harp by 12,296 to 5,034 votes, or 69 to 28 percent. (The ward breakdown appears in the above chart. Two candidates collected write-in vote.) Elicker, the Democratic candidate, captured 27 out of 30 wards against an incumbent who previously won 17 out of 17 elections for various positions over 32 years in New Haven. His campaign was looking for that kind of broad mandate after a bitterly divisive campaign with explicit racial appeals to black voters to deny office to a white candidate who, in the argument of one prominent Harp supporter, was launching a white “takeover” of New Haven. Those appeals fell even flatter in nonwhite neighborhoods than they did in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary, when Elicker defeated Harp by 58 to 42 percent. Harp ran as the Working Families Party candidate in Tuesday’s general election. “This victory is resounding across the city,” Elicker shouted at a victory party at the Next Door restaurant in Jocelyn Square. The bar was filled with both long-time supporters— like Westville Alder Darryl Brackeen and NHPS Advocates co-founder Sarah Miller—as well as with high-profile local politicos who threw their support behind Elicker only after he won September’s primary—like New Haven Rising labor organizer Scott Marks. “New Haven is a place where divisive rhetoric has no tolerance,” he said soon after arriving to a raucous applause just after 9 p.m. Elicker said Harp called him to extend congratulations and offer her help for a smooth transition. “I’m grateful to have her as a partner as we move forward into the next steps,” he said. He told the crowd Harp will be remembered for her decades of public service and for many accomplishments, such as creating YouthStat to support young people struggling with deep challenges, taking down a fence that separated two communities in Hamden and New Haven, rebuilding the Q House. Voter turnout was 29 percent. After the 933 absentee ballots and 163 Election Day Registration (EDR) ballots are counted, it’s possible Harp will match or come close to the 5,150 votes she won in the Sept. 10 primary, in which Elicker beat her 58 to 42 percent. Elicker increased his margin in Tuesday’s general election, when Republicans and independents were eligible to vote. Elicker also continued narrowing the margin in African-American wards like Newhallville’s Ward 20, which was supposed to be the heart of Harp’s base. She concentrated her campaign only on the black community with blunt racial appeals— and lost more ground to Elicker. Elicker even won Wards 22 and 27, two districts with sizeable African-American electorates that in the past always backed Harp.

Over At The Elks Club… In a concession speech at the Elks Club in the Dixwell neighborhood, Harp congratulated her challenger and said she intends to continue “some form of public service.” “I’m grateful in my heart of hearts for the ability that I’ve had to serve the people of New Haven,” she said. Probate Judge Clifton Graves, Alders Yvette Hamilton and Frank Douglass, and Livable City Initiative Director Serena Neal-Sanjuro all showed at the subdued after-party. They shed tears over the stinging defeat, attacked the Democratic “machine” that they felt had betrayed them and the challenger that they accused of making politics too “personal,” and tried to figure out what to do next. Some of Harp’s supporters had already started plotting how to take back City Hall, saying they needed to get the “mongoose out of the chicken house.” “We cede nothing!” Yasmin Amico, a Hamden resident and New Haven teacher who’d spent the day campaigning for Harp downtown, said after picking up the mic, as “Aint No Stoppin’ Us Now” came on the speakers. “We do not give up the fight! We march on tonight!” But most echoed the message of Harp’s speech, that they’d be a part of New Haven’s continued rise. “I appreciate her reminding us that we all need to work together,” said Shirley Ellis-West, a former Quinnipiac Meadows alder. “The foundation has already been set, and now we have to figure out how we can work together to build on it.” Emma Jones, who first approached Harp about a general-election run and later became the chair of The People’s Campaign PAC, cried near the back of the bar. She said she was feeling torn up about how she felt Harp had been smeared as racial fissures split the city. She tied Harp’s reelection campaign to the history of the civil rights movement. “I will always hold in my heart what a wonderful servant she really is and how tremendous this community is,” Jones said. “That, despite the fact that many of us felt that there had been a division made within the Black community and a further schism between the white community and the Black community.” “For me, that rolled back so many of the accomplishments that people like Martin Luther King made to get us to the place where we can have the right not only to vote, but the right to be in a world where we can contribute tremendously to society, that we will not be scandalized in our character, that we will not be punished in the process of trying to do that,” she added. “Mayor Toni Harp did so much for this community.” Harp “is not going to be remembered for these past three or four weeks,” Elicker said in his victory speech, alluding to her negative campaigning. “Mayor Harp is going to be remembered for her 30 years in public service.” Alex Taubes, a local attorney who worked as the campaign’s treasurer, said that, in 2020, volunteers could bring along voter registration forms as they fanned out to help take the Census. With a different electorate? Another Harp supporter leaned over to Jones and whispered the rest secretly in her ear. Democrats swept all the Board of Alders races as well. City Clerk Michael Smart won a fourth term. Board of Education President Darnell Goldson was re-elected as well. See the candidates’ victory and concession speeches below. Thank you to the 33 volunteers who reported results from the polls!

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posted by: SparkJames on November 5, 2019 8:53pm Alright folks, I’ll Tab you later.

Thanks for the coverage.

posted by: ElmUrbanist on November 5, 2019 9:59pm Kudos to the poll workers who kept things running smoothly throughout the day, and to the Independent staff for reporting these results so quickly. It’s pretty impressive that we got this tally so soon after the polls closed.

posted by: NewHavenCitizen on November 5, 2019 10:07pm This is a great day for New Haven! Change is coming!

posted by: DawnBli on November 5, 2019 11:06pm Sincere congrats to Justin!! The PEOPLE of NH have spoken! BTW, why is that Marks guy standing behind Justin? He’s a Harpie! Whichever way the wind blows I guess!

posted by: cp06 on November 5, 2019 11:13pm Wait… Melissa Bailey reporting?! Love it!

posted by: JoeChi on November 5, 2019 11:17pm Wait I thought that Alex guy said the people wanted Harp? She really should have gracefully stepped down after the primary, pretty embarrassing she decided to drag both the city and party through the mud by acting like an incumbent with full party endorsement losing had anything to do with race/gender as opposed to the city wanting change. Congrats Mr. Elicker!

posted by: Ulmus Civitas on November 5, 2019 11:18pm but…Alex told me Harp would win it!

posted by: chapillsbury on November 5, 2019 11:26pm Harp “is not going to be remembered for these past three or four weeks,” Elicker said, alluding to her negative campaigning. “Mayor Harp is going to be remembered for her 30 years in public service.” Amen! Congrats to Justin, and deep gratitude to Toni for her three decades of extraordinary public service.

posted by: alex on November 5, 2019 11:29pm Congratulations to Justin Elicker!

I wish him all the best as mayor, I hope he is as successful as can be.

This election shows that the power of the party is strong—it couldn’t be beat in one month, with no money, and every Democratic officeholder and most of the union allied against us. We didn’t have enough time.

But Mayor Harp still managed to win three of the most Democratic wards in this city. That is a huge accomplishment and a testament to the real difference she has made in People’s lives

We need Mayor Harp to stick around and make sure that the progress she has started isn’t turned back. This is a Democratic Party city and in time the party will live up to its true ideals!

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on November 6, 2019 12:07am I knew this was how it was going to end.Like I told you all.Read the Book City For Sale.The same thing Happen to Ed Koch.He lost.So now what will happen is those administrators who are appointed by the mayor will soon be handing in there resignations.In fact some of them will be leaving office before he takes office. There will be a forensic audit of all of the books.Like I said Read the Book City For Sale.

posted by: LookOut on November 6, 2019 12:34am DawnBli : Scott Marks was there to 1) get on camera and 2) provide Justin a not-so-subtle reminder that the unions run this town

posted by: fastdriver on November 6, 2019 12:53am CONGRATULATIONS JUSTIN! You have a tough road ahead of you. Maybe you should start with an audit of every city department so you know which end is up instead of relying on department heads for that information. My prayers are with you!

posted by: SparkJames on November 6, 2019 1:24am Now it’s time for somebody to leave town.

“Come on, somebody!” You owe us an apology before you leave…. The so-called race card should only be played by people qualified to play it. You cheapened it with your delusions and political aspirations. You exploited the community. Best of luck in your future endeavors.

posted by: CityYankee on November 6, 2019 6:21am Did Scott Marks already have himself surgically attached to Justin? Can’t leave his side for a single photo. What’s the word for a person who sells himself???????

Here’s wishing Justin great success; for all our sakes/ New Haven must rise!!

posted by: Atwater on November 6, 2019 8:02am 29 percent voter turnout? That’s sad. I don’t think anyone should be proud about this election.

posted by: DMH464 on November 6, 2019 8:12am A few things, IMO: Harp got destroyed in this election which speaks volumes as to how the citizens of New Haven felt about her, her history as Mayor and her campaign for re-election. As her campaign made this an issue I’d like to see the breakdown of the votes as it relates to race. Emma Jones said: “She said she was feeling torn up about how she felt Harp had been smeared as racial fissures split the city. She tied Harp’s reelection campaign to the history of the civil rights movement”. REALLY??? I’m sure your torn up but her campaign is not even close to anything with regards to the civil rights movement. As the chairperson of The Peoples Campaign it was your party’s tactics that further schism between the White community and the Black community and no it will not roll back any of the accomplishments the the Rev. Dr. MLK did to get the right to vote and contribute. Harp did do just that for the past 30 years and now it’s time for her to step aside. Her campaign and more so her tenure as Mayor Was her undoing. You can’t expect to have such a poor performance and think you will just continue to get re-elected based on name and racial makeup. We have had enough of it and we needed a change, wether it was the right on or not will be seen.

They shed tears over the stinging defeat, attacked the Democratic “machine” that they felt had betrayed them and the challenger that they accused of making politics too “personal,” and tried to figure out what to do next. Some of Harp’s supporters had already started plotting how to take back City Hall, saying they needed to get the “mongoose out of the chicken house.” “We cede nothing!” Yasmin Amico, a Hamden resident and New Haven teacher who’d spent the day campaigning for Harp downtown, said after picking up the mic, as “Aint No Stoppin’ Us Now” came on the speakers. “We do not give up the fight! We march on tonight!” Please, as long as you march in YOUR hometown, by all means make a fool out of yourselves.

posted by: Checking on November 6, 2019 8:34am @Alex I am not surprised that you didn’t learn the most obvious lesson of this election season. If you add up all of the mayor’s votes in the primary and general (including giving her all the absentees yet counted) they don’t add up to Elicker’s total last night. The reason — the most incompetent campaign in the history of incumbency. Arrogance and incompetency were the hallmarks of the primary campaign. Grievance and bitterness were the driving forces of the general election campaign. You personally did a remarkable disservice to the mayor, who deserved to go out better than she did. I hope she can get out of the bubble of bitterness that your campaign created. I hope she has the wisdom to leave you all behind. I wish her well.

posted by: Elmmy on November 6, 2019 8:45am Congratulations Justin!!!

posted by: jamesj@newhaven on November 6, 2019 8:48am Wow! Can’t recall an election where an incumbent lost one ward by over 1000 votes, ad came close to losing by another 1000 in another ward! An embarrassment that didn’t need to happen.

posted by: Brian L. Jenkins on November 6, 2019 9:01am Congratulations Justin!

posted by: JMS on November 6, 2019 9:08am @ Checking… Agreed 200% that Harp was done a terrible disservice by whoever advised her to run her campaign they way it was run especially after the primary. I am not a Harp supporter by any means but her undignified departure was probably entirely avoidable.

posted by: RetiredGuy Congratulations, Mr. Elicker! Your honeymoon period as Mayor of New Haven will probably last about 12 hours. Buckle up.

posted by: citoyen on November 6, 2019 9:23am Toni Harp, speaking last Friday to Babz Rawls Ivy, about the “groundswell” of support she responded to by un-suspending her campaign: “They convinced me that _all_ of the people should have an opportunity to vote, not just the Democrats, particularly since the Democrats were really going away from where the population even is in this town, and away from where the values are.” “The population,” with their values, have now spoken. _All_ of the people have now spoken. Amen. And let’s move on.

posted by: Jessica.Light on November 6, 2019 9:30am Excited now for unifying our city by building trust within all the wards even the three that went for Harp.

posted by: SparkJames on November 6, 2019 9:37am “Emma Jones, who first approached Harp about a general-election run and later became the chair of The People’s Campaign PAC, cried near the back of the bar.”

Yeah right. This was orchestrated by Taubes which is what made it all the more vile.

posted by: IloveMYcity203 on November 6, 2019 9:40am @Atwater It doesn’t matter if it was 10% of voters who came out to vote. The Independents, Republicans, Democrats who did not want Toni to have another term, came out to support and vote for Justin. Everyone else stayed home because they did not want to vote for Toni. If they wanted to make sure she wins, they would have came out in astronomical numbers like the American people did when Obama ran for President during his 1st term. No matter how you spin it, the City of New Haven residents have spoken. No excuse in the book is going to chase the outcome of this election. She lost in the primary to her own party and this is a blue city and state. #CaseClosed

posted by: alex on November 6, 2019 9:57am SparkJames,

How ignorant is it to think that I orchestrated someone’s tears. Emma Jones can speak for and emote for herself. She doesn’t need me or anyone else to orchestrate anything for her. ilovemycity203,

You have no evidence for the proposition that “Everyone else stayed home because they did not want to vote for Toni.” Checking,

I doubt very much you wish our Mayor well. But even if you do, wishes are worth a lot less than actions and words. Your actions and words have been consistently disrespectful to the Mayor. If you’re less disrespectful in person, that’s good for the world, but it reflects poorly on your character.

posted by: s093thead on November 6, 2019 9:59am Congrats to Mayor elect Justin Elicker and to the people of New Haven you should be a SHAME of yourself for the voters turnout you just showed how much you care about the process. For those of you that are say I prove my point by not voting how stupid do you sound you will sound even stupider when you start complaining about things you don’t like. For those of you who claim to have made this about race thanks for your stupidity because now you have even put a bigger divide in this city. Words are a powerful thing when used correctly but when not this is what you have let’s take a look real quick. He picked up 5000 votes to her picking up 500 between the primary and the election. There were people that were outraged by statements that were made during her 40 person rally this passed weekend.

posted by: Urn Pendragon on November 6, 2019 10:11am Last night should serve both as examples & reminders that massive change & repairs are needed to get our incredible city back on track. As I mentioned in the mayoral forums, a line-by-line audit of every department’s budgetary expenses is needed to uncover where money is bleeding out. Housing policy needs RADICAL change, leaning towards more inclusive affordable housing. Green energy needs to be deployed so we can grow our economy by relying on more expandable grids to bring in a positive cash flow. Racial desegregation can happen by inclusive economic development thru school inclusion of programs from magnet & charters schools into public schools. There are so many more plans that I outlined in my platform that WILL make New Haven one of the best cities in the country, IF city leadership was to implement them. I give hope in Elicker & the Alders, for now. I will be watching.

posted by: Checking on November 6, 2019 10:33am @Alex Don’t mistake my disrespect of you and your whining campaign as a disrespect of the mayor. I hold her in high regard. You, the city could do without.

posted by: DwightAndHowe on November 6, 2019 10:34am “As I mentioned in the mayoral forums, a line-by-line audit of every department’s budgetary expenses is needed to uncover where money is bleeding out.”

———

How does one differentiate between prudent use of money and excess? Every special interest group will cry afoul if something is cut.

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on November 6, 2019 10:36am posted by: s093thead on November 6, 2019 8:59am For those of you that are say I prove my point by not voting how stupid do you sound you will sound even stupider when you start complaining about things you don’t like. I understand that people do it to symbolically honor the milestone of of access to voting. But let that be what it is.But People certainly do not forfeit There right to complain as long as They exist as a rightful citizen of this country.

posted by: 1644 on November 6, 2019 10:50am “He told the crowd Harp will be remembered for her decades of public service and for many accomplishments ....”

Dice nil nisi bonum de mortuis.

posted by: Atwater on November 6, 2019 10:52am @ilovemycity: Acultually 70% of the 29% of registered voters have spoken. A small minority of citizens. I have no opinion of Mr. Elicker, he seems pretty milquetoast to me but I hope he serves the city well. However, democracy is frighteningly in danger if only 29% of registered voters actually vote. It’s sad and should be remedied immediately. Also, what the low turnout means is that a majority of citizens have lost faith in the system. Why wouldn’t they? The system has failed them and continues to do so, no matter which politician holds power.

posted by: boxerct on November 6, 2019 11:00am In his acceptance speech, our new mayor was gracious and inclusive and had nothing but nice things to say about our current mayor. In her concession speech, our current mayor touted her successes, thanked her supporters and had nothing at all to say about our new mayor, going so far as to allow a supporter to call him a “mongoose” and not checking that sort of language. That’s the difference between class and crass*. I look forward to living in a city that’s run by someone who is humble and wants to do the right thing, and will not miss the arrogance and divisiveness that marred our current administration. *of course, I only have what’s printed in this article to go by, but given the pro Harp slant I’ve seen here this past month and listening to Babz last night on live stream stating that “We’re coming for you” literally seconds after the race had been called, and stating that there is no place for a “white man” in the mayors office of New Haven, in the minutes that followed leads me to believe that it was probably far worse than what was reported by the “Independent” at Harp headquarters. [Ed.: You can listen to the full speech of each candidate in the videos at the bottom of the very story you’re suggesting did not present the full remarks.]

posted by: Checking on November 6, 2019 11:03am Getting about 30% turnout off a local off-year election without an inspiring, uplifting candidate on the ballot is not reason to fret, especially when many people felt the result was going to be lopsided anyway.

posted by: DwightAndHowe on November 6, 2019 11:17am @ Atwater, If registered voters didn’t vote, they didn’t vote. It seems neither candidate seemed appealing enough. Maybe some people got sick and tired of identity politics and didn’t see any real change on the horizon regardless of which Democrat is mayor. Maybe Republicans and third-party voters stayed home because it is pointless to vote in New Haven.

posted by: alex on November 6, 2019 11:20am Why do only 29% of people show up? The least likely thing is that it is only one reason. 1) They were too busy with work and family

2) They had some other difficulty preventing them and couldn’t AB

3) They didn’t like one or either candidate

4) Didn’t know the election was that day

5) Didn’t know they were eligible to vote

6) Didn’t know they were registered or that they could register 7) IMPORTANT: Connecticut still has a number of oppressive laws that make people less likely to vote. a) We stop letting people register to vote a week before the election, until Election Day. What utter nonsense. The week before the election is the time when people are most involved and engaged in politics. The logistical difficulty of printing out lists of newly-registered voters on Election Day is almost nothing. This needs to change and there should be no “blackout” for voter registration where access to registration is denied. b) The absentee ballot and early voting situation in Connecticut is ridiculously archaic. Yes, it is open to abuse, but the far larger problem is that it is extremely cumbersome and requires people to be totally physically disabled, ill, out of town for the entire Election Day, or working at the polls to qualify for a mail-in ballot. Everyone should be entitled to a mail-in ballot if they so choose. The only argument I’ve ever heard against this is that it would require a change in the State Constitution. I brought it up with both Alder Abby Roth (graduate of Yale Law School) and State Rep. Toni Walker (longtime state legislator) yesterday, however, and they both agreed that no change to the constitution will be required. c) I’m torn between two options that would allow people to vote at any polling place they like. There’s a high-tech and a low-tech solution for preventing double voting: electronic polling books ... or having people dip their finger in ink. Something makes me think Connecticut’s going high tech but I prefer the low tech option.

posted by: ElmUrbanist on November 6, 2019 12:04pm Alex is absolutely right to point out that our voting system is not set up for maximum participation. Mail voting (or at the very least more permissive early voting) would go a long way in fixing this. I would add:

*Syncing municipal elections with state-wide and federal elections. There’s a slight risk that attention to alder races would get crowded out, but it’s not as though these are particularly competitive elections right now.

*Perhaps less realistic, but I can dream: trying to find some way to distance the local party system from the national party system. Our local elections frameworks pretends we have a two party system, but we only have one functioning party. This causes 1) a situation in which people who aren’t reading the Register or Independent every day don’t quite follow when a primary is most important and when a general is most important, 2) strange party dynamics where it’s tough for campaigns to mobilize voters based on actual ideological or policy differences. I’m not sure if it’s possible to institute ranked choice voting just on the city level as NYC has just done, but it might be worth a try.

posted by: boxerct on November 6, 2019 12:10pm [Ed.: You can listen to the full speech of each candidate in the videos at the bottom of the very story you’re suggesting did not present the full remarks.] Not if you’re on Firefox. There is only a blank space where those links should be. Thus my comment about I can only comment on what was “written”. You might want to vet your site on more than one browser and platform.

posted by: thecove on November 6, 2019 12:30pm The people have spoken. Lets move on and work together! @1644

No need for the Latin, we all know how smart you are.

posted by: AverageTaxpayer on November 6, 2019 12:33pm @ NHI — this was a 5-2 winning margin, not 2-1. The incumbent Harp couldn’t even break 30%, which is a staggering defeat. Regarding turnout, New Haven’s voter rolls are not “clean” and include many people who no longer live in New Haven. Therefore actual voter turnout was much higher than 29%. If this election were actually contested, even more people would have turned out. But unless you were a delusional Harp supporter, the results of this re-match were never in question. A pity we had to live through the People’s Campaign’s divisive bullsh*t.

posted by: CatDude on November 6, 2019 12:39pm Elicker better get to work on his campaign promises of getting Yale to pay more, fixing our schools, and lowering my taxes.

posted by: Thomas Alfred Paine on November 6, 2019 12:41pm “Why do only 29% of people show up?

Those who choose to vote, vote.

Those who do not, don’t. And there is not much that can be done to make them.

The state and the city did not block, suppress or obstruct 71% of the New Haven electorate from voting. We have in Connecticut one of the most fair and liberal voter identification laws. Our state largely is a role model of democratic voting rules for most Republican controlled States across the nation.

Most people who had the will to vote, found the way to vote.

Poor voter turnout in New Haven is not a local problem, it is a national problem. It is a national disgrace, and the greatest threat to American democracy that typically fewer than 50% of eligible voters vote.

We have gone around the world promoting and fighting to preserve democracy, and we are failing to practice it properly at home.

Now we can spend years and dollars trying to answer why Americans don’t vote. Ask them and they will tell you.

Many hate politics and are turned off by politicians. Some are simply apathetic and have no political interests. Many fail to see the direct connections between politics and their personal lives. Many are uninformed, misinformed, or miseducated.

The list could go on.

But there is no justification, no excuse for Americans and New Haveners not voting. We must all make a concerted effort to give voters reasons to vote, and convince them that in is their moral and civic duty to vote in order to make America and Americans safe by preserving democracy.

posted by: CatDude on November 6, 2019 12:49pm Thanks to the NHI for some solid election coverage, it helped me stay informed. Even though this was heavily weighted to Elicker coverage.

posted by: CatDude on November 6, 2019 12:52pm Sorry to see Harp go out like this after a long career in public service but the tax increases and horrible hires did her in. Horrible BOE hire, but this is coming from someone who put her kids in private school so she didn’t really care. She had to go. Justin should’ve done the right thing and offered to name a street or school in her honor and Toni should’ve bowed out of running on the general ballot and getting embarrassed. That election party she was was comical.

posted by: Guillermo798 on November 6, 2019 1:18pm @ Atwater, DwightAndHowe, Alex

We have become a society/government of special interests. I vote because I can get something from an elected official. 70% don’t care, don’t know, don’t want anything, and don’t realized what a responsibility and privilege it is to vote. Let’s keep doing the same thing and expect different results…

posted by: Mark Oppenheimer on November 6, 2019 1:28pm I am 100% for greater voter access, easier registration, voting rights for felons, etc… That said, 30% turnout in a non-presidential year, which dispiriting because it shows a lack of civic engagement, is a good sample size to poll the city’s preferences. It’s a poll of thousands of people. In other words, higher turnout would be unlikely to change the results. Let’s say we got up to 60%—why would we think that the additional voters would skew Harp? Some of them surely would, but a great deal of the people who stay home are people convinced the system is broken, their vote doesn’t matter, etc.—and such people are unlikely to automatically vote for the incumbent. So the truth is, we don’t know; but assuming that higher turnout changes the result is unwarranted. To be clear: I DO want higher turnout. The first thing we could do is make Election Day a holiday, so everyone has more time to get to the polls. And as @alex and others note, there is lots more we can do. But the argument for it is civic engagement, a good in itself.

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on November 6, 2019 1:58pm If you had the system of proportional representation,More people will come out.

posted by: citoyen on November 6, 2019 2:10pm The 29% turnout number is pretty meaningless by itself, particularly in usually non-competitive New Haven. It’s informative only if we know how it compares to other general election races. What was the number for the very competitive Harp/Elicker race six years ago? How does it compare to Toni Harp’s two basically non-competitive races in 2015 and 2017? How does it compare to DeStefano’s series of basically non-competitive races? Best I can find by trying to search the NHI archives is that the total mayoral vote for 2013, the _very_ competitive race (in New Haven terms) between Harp and Elicker, was 20,779. The vote totals for 2017 and 2015, respectively, were 11,359 and 12,123. In the quite competitive race of 2011 between DeStefano and Jeffrey Kerekes (which DeStefano won 55%-45%, the same margin as Harp’s victory over Elicker in 2013), the vote total was 15,457. I can’t find anything else. (Perhaps someone else can?) These compare to yesterday’s total vote (so far, without absentees yet) of 16,474—but say nothing about percentages. Still, based purely on vote numbers, the turnout for yesterday’s only lightly competitive race seems to have been better than anything except the most extraordinary race. Maybe not desirable, but better than usual.

posted by: alex on November 6, 2019 2:14pm Threefifths is right about Proportional Representation. Elm is right about syncing elections. Mark is right about Election Day needing to be a holiday. But “holidays” are almost classist at this point—many workers in the service industry, etc., don’t get “holidays.” I prefer the California model where every worker is entitled to two hours paid leave to vote. Mr. Paine you are very wrong about Connecticut being a model for the nation. Thirty-eight states have some form of early voting. While our Voter ID law is ok, it isn’t well enforced and in many polling places it isn’t observed. The fact we lack some of the overt and obscene voter suppression of the “red” states doesn’t make us a model.

posted by: HewNaven on November 6, 2019 2:37pm Where did 29% come from? Active voters? Why not count everyone? The Secretary of State reports that as of 10/29/19 New Haven has 85,441 registered voters. Of that number, only 20% (17,424) cast a vote for mayor. If we look at eligible voters, the turnout is even worse (maybe 15%) In an election like this, 1 in 5 New Haven voters will decide what’s best for the other 4.

posted by: Bill Saunders on November 6, 2019 4:41pm Citoyen, Here are the Voter Turnout Stats, going back thirty years. Analyze away….. Mayor: Governor Prez.

2019 - 16474. 2018 - 33537. 2016 - 41650

2017 - 11374. 2014 - 27220. 2012 - 42678

2015 - 12213 2010 - 27615. 2008 - 43079

2013 - 20801. 2006 - 26523. 2004 - 36988

2011 - 15406. 2002 - 21089. 2000 - 33779

2009 - 10045. 1998 - 20896. 1996 - (unavailable)

2007 - 12245 1994 - 26663. 1992 - 43512

2005 - 12234. 1990- 28742. 1988 - 42899

2003 - 12884.

2001 - 18935

1999 - 17849

1997 - 17970

1995 - 18894

1993 - 20951

1991 - 28822

1989 - 24767

1987 - 25424

posted by: DwightAndHowe on November 6, 2019 5:13pm “But “holidays” are almost classist at this point—many workers in the service industry, etc., don’t get “holidays.””

===== Holidays are holidays; they are not people. They cannot be classist any more than they can be classic pianists. Profit-driven employers are the ones placing undue stress on the less fortunate. Place the blame on the people, instead of slapping on a virtue-signaling tag on Memorial Day.

posted by: ctddw on November 6, 2019 5:59pm @alex - most of the city is Democratic so the fact that Mayor Harp won those 3 wards isn’t much of an accomplishment. On the contrary, we got the message loud and clear on what constituents were most important to her and cost her the election. If we truly felt she was here for all of the residents she may have been re-elected. She drew her line in the sand and we crossed it. You were not an asset.

posted by: JohnTulin on November 6, 2019 6:30pm Now can someone get my street swept - leaves have been out there for days!

posted by: George Polk on November 6, 2019 10:00pm A holiday to vote? Only thing that would do is increase the amount of absentee ballots. Perhaps some day soon politics will take a chapter from pro sports where an African American coach or manager can be yelled at by fans and be fired by management just as quick as a white counterpoint.

posted by: cellardoor on November 6, 2019 10:18pm @alex “We need Mayor Harp to stick around and make sure that the progress she has started isn’t turned back.” I might have agreed with you until the end of the campaign that you and Mayor Harp ran. While I found her performance disappointing in the last six years (during which I voted for her twice), I never would have thought she was capable of the racialized, Trumpist campaign that she ran in 2019. She worked to make Justin Elicker’s new job harder, and for what? I do not recognize the city she depicted. And I am now persuaded that Mayor Harp now should be permanently retired.

posted by: Anonymous NewHavener on November 6, 2019 11:37pm First time commenting, congrats to Justin Elicker! Currently anonymous because I have a sensitive question I’d like to ask regarding the voting. So yesterday I voted and wrote in Seth Poole for the mayoral race in ward 21. However, in that ward the spreadsheet’s only showing a single vote in the “EDR” column, which the article says stands for “Election Day Registration”. I’ve been registered to vote for a few years now so that doesn’t make much sense. I would think it should be in the “HC” column (for “Hand Counted” I assume) but there’s a 0 there. I know it isn’t quite relevant now since the mayor-elect has won by so much, but it’s still a little unnerving to not see your own vote tallied. Does anyone know who I might contact to figure out if this was a recording error or something?