Blanchette Returns to Top Seat in Ellington

In a light turnout influenced by more than a week without electricity, Ellington voters returned all incumbent Republicans to their seats in local government, including First Selectman Maurice Blanchette.

Democratic challenger Rachel Wheeler-Rossow, a veteran of local politics, will join the board's four incumbent Republicans along with Democratic selectman Leo Miller, who was re-elected to a sixth term.

Bob Hoffman, the local police officer who gave up his planning board seat in order to challenge Blanchette for the First Selectman job, did not receive enough votes to win him a seat on the Board of Selectmen.

The town charter provides for the losing candidate for First Selectman to bump a selectman candidate if he or she wins more votes. Hoffman, however, received fewer votes than his fellow Democrats Miller and Wheeler-Rossow.

If disappointed, he was not surprised, since Ellington has had only three Democratic First Selectmen in its history, he said.

As they congregated in the high school gym to learn the voting tally, Hoffman congratulated Blanchette for his convincing win. The final margin of victory - 1,287 to 908 - was not clear until later in the evening when results from the town's two voting districts were combined.

For the Planning and Zoning Commission, Carol Strom, David Stavens, and Douglas Harding will return.

All five candidates to the Board of Education were elected without opposition, as was the case with the three people running for the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Registrars of voters said the turnout for the town's two voting districts was 24 percent - significantly lower than the 36 percent turnout in 2009's municipal election.