With a turnout of 41% after just six hours of polling — and with eight hours to go — Wilton was well on it’s way to adding its voice to the 2016 national election. Wilton's historic turnout for presidential elections is in the 80s to 90s percentagewise.
One race whose outcome is not in question is that of state Rep. Gail Lavielle, who represents Wilton’s 143rd district in the state House of Representatives. The Bulletin caught up with her at the polling place at Wilton High School’s Zeoli Fieldhouse.
Lavielle said that while most of the attention has been on races at the top of the ticket, particularly between presidential nominees Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, she said it is important to pay attention to Connecticut’s legislative races.
“It is quite possible voting could change the majority in the house or the senate,” she told The Bulletin Tuesday. Republicans are 12 seats from the majority in the house, she said, adding, “if we bring in more balance to the legislature, things can change substantially.”
While Wilton went for President Barack Obama in his first outing in 2008 — the town went for Mitt Romney in 2012 — it has been straight Republicans all the way back to the last Democrat that took the town — Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
2004 — George W. Bush
2000 — George W. Bush
1996 — Bob Dole
1992 — George H. Bush
1988 — George H. Bush
1984 — Ronald Reagan
1980 — Ronald Reagan
1976 — Gerald Ford
1972 — Richard Nixon
1968 — Richard Nixon
1964 — Lyndon Johnson