Secretary of the State Denise Merrill says 31 percent of registered voters across Connecticut turned out to cast ballots. Bridgewater reported the highest turnout, where 77-percent of registered voters participated in the November 5th election.
Across the rest of the Greater Danbury region, Brookfield had the highest voter turnout with nearly 44%. Bethel had a 37.7% turn out. The New Milford Registrar of Voters reported a 23.7% voter turn out. About 25.5% of Newtown cast ballots for the election. Having served since 1999, Redding First Selectman Natalie Ketcham decided to retire when her term ends. That prompted a 38.5% voter turnout. Ridgefield had a 24% voter turn out despite the top of the ticket not being up for election this year.
Last year Bridgewater had a nearly 95-percent voter turn out. Earlier this month Democrat Curtis Read won the First Selectman race.
The current leader of the town, Bill Stuart opted not to seek another four-year term after more than 30 years in office. Stuart announced he would be stepping down amid an FBI investigation of town finances. Stuart denies any wrongdoing with town finances and the Burnham Fund, a charity for the needy.
The State Attorney General said in September there was insufficient evidence of money being misappropriated. George Jepson wrote to the Boards of Finance and Selectmen that while some of the distributions deviated from the Fund's original intent, Stuart didn't mishandle it.
