Middletown: Russo Separated from Allies by PZC Candidate and Connecticut’s Complicated Primary Ballot Rules.

The signatures were collected with dispatch and the merchandise for Row B was ready to go. And then along came Kellin Atherton and petitioned his way onto the ballot for a rare planning and zoning primary. Atherton’s late primary challenge has upended mayoral candidate William Russo’s slate’s position on the crowded Middletown primary ballot.

There is an endorsed slate for mayor and town council. That’s headed by Mary Bartolotta, whose campaign has trouble dealing with the headwinds that are permanent fixtures of the civic religion known as Middletown Democratic politics. Public works director Russo put together an impressive slate for mayor and town council. It did not include a challenger for planning and zoning, thus rendering it incomplete when Atherton emerged.

Because the Russo slate is no longer comprehensive, it will be separated on the ballot. The council candidates will remain on the second line but next to mayoral challenger Ben Florsheim. In Connecticut primaries, challengers are listed alphabetically. Russo will be on the third line, away from his supporters.

Bartolotta faces her own problems. She’s the endorsed candidate, but not all of the endorsed candidates for council support her. There are some Florscheim supporters on her line.

One wonders if the eager Atherton knew what he would wrought by submitting enough signatures to seek a spot on the November ballot for for planning and zoning.

With local alliances spread around the ballot like a box of Skittles, candidates may take some solace in the knowledge that voters in municipal primaries–often low turnout affairs–are often the most engaged voters.