By Ryan Chichester
Election Day is underway in Hamden, with polls just hours away from closing at 8 p.m. Hamden could have a new mayor by night’s end, unless democratic representative and current mayor Curt Leng wins today’s election to maintain his position. Leng, who was outside Hamden Public Library this afternoon greeting voters, is feeling confident about his chances to remain town mayor.
“I think we’ve had really good feedback from residents today,” Leng said. “The things they’ve said about the town and what we’re doing are really positive. But you don’t know until the end of the day.”
Leng’s confidence is high, but has noticed a smaller than usual crowd at the polls today.
“You can’t tell what that means until the totals are done,” Leng said.
A possible explanation for Leng is the lack of opposed positions in certain districts in Hamden. There are democratic representatives in every district for this election, but only two districts have republican representatives.
As for the residents who are casting their votes today, their expectations for whoever walks away victorious appear to be fairly straightforward.
“I want the candidate to be a real honest and good person,” Hamden resident Dennis Tucker explained, though he is keeping his vote private. “He’s got to be upstanding and know what he’s talking about. I don’t want a guy who has no idea what politics are all about.”
While residents know what they want in their candidate, the candidates themselves can feel the day’s stress in terms of not knowing.
“I wish they had a scoreboard up and updated it every hour,” Leng said. “Keep everyone’s confidentiality, but let us know how we’re doing. It’s tough because you don’t really know what is happening.”
Democratic voters are feeling confident in their candidate’s chances to repeat as mayor, whether Leng is stressing or not.
“I’m very satisfied with the current administration in Hamden, and they’re in line with my political views,” Hamden resident and democratic voter George Engelhardt said. “That pretty much determined who I was going to vote for.”
Leng and the rest of Hamden will find out the results of today’s election at roughly 9:30 tonight. Leng will be at Mickey’s Restaurant in Hamden after the results are tallied to either celebrate a victory or cope with a loss. The winner will either be Leng or republican candidate Salman Hamid.