Early voting for the Connecticut primaries started Monday, as the state continues to roll out the process for the very first time this election cycle.
Registered Republicans across the state can vote on their nominee for the U.S. Senate, and some districts also have nomination battles for Congress or the state legislature.
Several election officials reporter low voter turnout Monday, but this gives them a chance to test the process ahead of this fall’s Presidential election.
“My plan regarding early voting is to vote first thing tomorrow,” Bridgitte Prince, East Hartford, said.
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For the veteran and activist, heading to her East Hartford polling place early means encouraging other voters.
“If I'm walking around and I've already voted, I can encourage other people to come out there and vote. So I think it's very important to vote early and set the example for my community,” Prince said.
Election workers aim to make early voting as efficient as possible for Capital City residents at Hartford City Hall.
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“Avoid lines. We don't know what the weather is going to be like, so we'll make it convenient. We also have curbside voting at all our polling locations, but we do have it for early voting,” Giselle Feliciano, (D) Hartford Registrar of Voters, said.
Hartford’s Democratic Registrar of Voters says as about 20 voters cast their ballots Monday, there were no technical issue.
However, the Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas was on hand for all districts to troubleshoot.
“We actually have the Secretary of the State live on Zoom all day long,” Feliciano said.
Along with Hartford, Danbury, Middletown, and Waterbury election officials report low voter turnout on day one of early voting.
“We're trying to get the word out a lot more about early voting so people are aware,” Alexandra Desjardins, (R) Waterbury Register of Voters, said.
Some say they see this primary as a golden opportunity to test the new early voting process.
“It will be a good exercise for what's going to come up in November,” George Souto, (R) Middletown Registrar of Voters, said. “You can take care of those things versus October where – it's not going to be people lined up the door, but it’s going to be busier than it is now. So we can iron out those bugs.”
Sunday will be the last day to vote early. Voters will put their ballots into an envelope, which will be sealed until Primary Day on August 13th. That is when all the ballots will be fed into tabulators.
Polls will be open for two weeks ahead of the general election in November.
