Typo Leads To Wrong Candidate, James J. Butler's Election In Conn.

DERBY, Conn. -- A typo has led to the election of the wrong man to a finance board in Derby, Conn.

James J. Butler was the highest vote-getter, winning 1,526 votes for the 10-member Board of Apportionment and Taxation, which monitors the town's finances.

However, his father, 72-year-old James R. Butler, was the candidate nominated by Democrats. The News Times of Danbury and New Haven Register report that he said he wants the job and that his son is not interested in public office.

James J. Butler, who is 46, would not comment on whether he wants the job. But he calls city officials incompetent for confusing him with his father.

Av Harris, spokesman for the secretary of the state's office, says James J. Butler should be sworn in because he was elected.

Comments

[adamantthe1st21]

02:12 AM on 11/26/2011

What about the neanderthals who could not read and voted the wrong president ?

[HoyaHoyaSaxa]

10:16 PM on 11/25/2011

Don't candidates have to file in CT? This isn't a write in. People are voting for the registered candidate who presumably filed and campaigned. Could be worse. You could lose to the dead guy like John Ashcroft did.

[Bike Commuter]

07:16 PM on 11/26/2011

I suspect you are correct. The way I see it, there is no way the son should be considered a valid candidate. It isn't a write-in and he clearly never filed for anything. It surprises me that anyone could seriously argue that the son was elected just because the name on the ballot matched his. If one were to accept such a thing, then anyone who had the same name as a candidate in an election could claim that they were the real winner. I think that, at most, the election would be invalid, since there could have been voter confusion.

[MikeLoran]

10:05 PM on 11/25/2011

Incompetence starts at the bottom and works it's way through the system to congress and the white house. Anyone want to venture a guess as to how many people work for the american government in the world??

[bbwiththeo]

09:06 PM on 11/25/2011

Government at it's best LOL! and you liberal/socialists want these clowns to provide your health care.

[Edward Wilkes]

09:25 PM on 11/25/2011

And you Stupid Selfish Republicans need to stop all your lying, stealing, and greed!

[triciab79]

10:09 PM on 11/25/2011

You mean like lying about Solyndra and the money that company paid the Obama campaign to secure the green loan? Or the stealing of the 500 million and insuring that the taxpayer would be on the hook for it? Perhaps the greed involved in not just doing this for one but for several campaign donators including one for Brookfield Properties owners of Zuccotti park? Nice try but the real corruption is always with the people who claim to be the socialist. Socialism centers power on the few people at the top and strives to even the rest of the people out somewhere below. Capitalism allows people to decide how successful they will be by rewarding them for working harder and smarter than the next guy.

[patriotisland]

11:22 PM on 11/25/2011

What a laugh....You just described your ilk.....Crooks, Commies and Cronies....the democrat socialist party...sorry bunch indeed.

[Views from the Middle]

10:20 PM on 11/25/2011

This was a local, non-Partisan election. Go spew your nonsense elsewhere.

[kayyy]

08:42 PM on 11/25/2011

O.K. I'm an idiot who was ACTUALLY running for office? Those are the only ones who went through the whole legal process of application and balloting. They are the only ones to concider. As for the to typo's if ether one of them was on the ballet legitimately then count the votes and be done with it. If not on legitimately then disregard. There is also the notion of a second re-election to start over. Who did the voters think they're voting for and why wasn't this caught sooner? Are we the people so appathetic (sp?) that this kind of nonsense was not caught at all? sheesh

[David Jeffers]

09:24 PM on 11/25/2011

Mindless fools pulling the voting levers for mindless fools that do not check to make sure that they are on the ballot and not "Donald Duck".

[walkinthedogdude]

08:41 PM on 11/25/2011

I've lived in Connecticut, and once you get north of Stamford you go south of 100 points on the IQ scale.

[juststeve35]

08:19 PM on 11/25/2011

To my way of thinking, the residents thought the were voting for the father...

Cut the nonsense, swear the man in and let that community start on the path he laid out in his campaign.

[calsibert]

08:18 PM on 11/25/2011

When I saw the headline, I thought it was about the 2008 presidential election.

[sakovkt]

09:18 PM on 11/25/2011

Yeah, me too!

Talk about disappointment!

Has anyone checked the spelling on Obama's BC?

I know it's a long shot, but 12 more months of this is a long time.

[Behaviour Problem]

08:01 PM on 11/25/2011

Speaking of grammer too. I feel like I'm getting stupidier everytime I read a sentence starting with And or But. I learned that in the 7th grade!

[calsibert]

08:19 PM on 11/25/2011

Never learned spelling though I see.Back to seventh grade you go!!

[walkinthedogdude]

08:43 PM on 11/25/2011

Must be from New Haven

[jem19166]

09:49 PM on 11/25/2011

Sorry, but "speaking of grammer too," is not a complete sentence. AND it is spelled grammar. :)

[Behaviour Problem]

10:10 PM on 11/25/2011

I must be getting stupid from reading these.

[readingisknowing]

07:38 PM on 11/25/2011

So what! An idiot was elected Governor.

[jdogmyers4]

07:34 PM on 11/25/2011

hi

[Karl Blevins]

07:27 PM on 11/25/2011

haa ha haa well great to see our system working so well.

[mrnavy]

07:23 PM on 11/25/2011

Once again I see the DEMOCRATS stealing an election like they did in 2008

[murrman]

07:29 PM on 11/25/2011

What election did DEMOCRATS steal in 2008?

[jrev2020]

09:08 PM on 11/25/2011

I think he must mean the election that was a national tragedy when GW Bush was falsely and wrongfully elected president of the USA in 2000 dispite loosing the electoral and popular vote to Al Gore.

[kieldimsey]

07:11 PM on 11/25/2011

Wait, they know they made a mistake but they think the wrong guy should be sworn in anyway?

[David Jeffers]

09:29 PM on 11/25/2011

You going to swear in someone whose name is not on the ballot? You either have anoother election or swear in the guy that won.

[belldn3]

07:00 PM on 11/25/2011

Sooooo, are they going to do it over?????