Recount keeps Rigby ahead in 63rd District House race

WINSTED — After triggering an automatic recount, the battle for the 63rd District seat in the state House of Representatives has been decided, with incumbent Republican John Rigby holding on to the win.

Rigby won the overall vote on election night by a tally of 4,240 to 4,202 over William O. Riiska of Norfolk, the son of the late Winsted Mayor William T. Riiska. The 38-vote difference was small enough for state law to mandate the recount, as the margin of victory was within half a percentage point.

In Winsted, the town’s recount for the 63rd District seat took place at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 6, with town resident and state-certified elections moderator Debbie Angell directing the effort. Angell said this week that the recount went smoothly and that it certified the accuracy of the town’s original result, with the exception of a single ballot that got jammed in a machine.

The result was one fewer vote for Rigby.

Winsted was the only town in the 63rd District to vote in the majority for Riiska in the Nov. 2 election, giving the Democrat 1,800 votes to Rigby’s 1,741. That 59-vote difference wasn’t enough to hold off strong showings for Rigby in the surrounding towns.

At the end of the day Tuesday, the latest tally had Rigby leading Riiska by at least 35 total votes in the district.

Angell said she was satisfied with the results of Winsted’s five-hour recount on Saturday.

“I feel very confident in these machines,� she said. “I was also impressed how everyone came together. Everything went well.�

Angell said the number of ballots and absentee ballots was double-checked Saturday and that they all added up to the correct number in the end.

“We followed the procedure and went through it step by step,� she said.

Angell said she was also impressed with the total voter turnout on Election Day, which totaled 3,675.

Riiska and Rigby had competed before for the 63rd District seat in 2008, but on uneven footing. Riiska joined the race late in the 2008 campaign after Democratic incumbent George Wilber stepped down amid allegations of sexual misconduct. The scandal happened so late in the campaign that Riiska was only able to get into that race as a write-in candidate.

This time around, both Riiska and Rigby were on the ballot, but one candidate was nowhere to be found in Connecticut, or even in the United States, for much of the campaign. News surfaced this fall that Rigby had taken a job in Afghanistan, working for an aerospace company in an effort to pay back bills. Rigby acknowledged that he had been laid off as a loan officer and that his home had been subjected to foreclosure proceedings. He had gone Afghanistan to earn enough money to settle his debts. As of this week, he still has not returned to the United States.