Officials said voter turnout in Connecticut was light for Tuesday's primary election. Some primary voters went to the polls, although they were eligible to vote by mail without an excuse because of the pandemic.
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said in-person voting was light because most voters took advantage of the no-excuse absentee ballots.
“We do have informal reports that the ballot boxes have been in tremendous use,” Merrill said Tuesday.
But some voters found the absentee ballot process confusing and, perhaps, unreliable.
Louis Audette said the absentee ballot he requested three weeks ago never arrived. He was one of a trickle of voters at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven.
“I didn’t want to come because of the pandemic and I had a fairly full schedule, but when it didn’t arrive, I realized I had to change things around because I’ve never missed an election day since I’ve lived in New Haven,” he said.
Audette said that was almost 50 years ago. He said he did not know he could get another absentee ballot from the city clerk’s office as a way to avoid polling locations.
Last week, Merrill said more than 20,000 absentee ballots were not mailed out on time due to an issue with a contractor.
Sarah Thompson of Bridgeport was one of the few voters who showed up at Winthrop School. She said she wasn't confident about using an absentee ballot.
”It was a little confusing when they mailed it to me. So I just felt like coming in person was a little bit easier," Thompson said.
John Klien, a poll moderator in Bridgeport, said precautions were taken to keep voters safe.
“They place their ID on a tray. It's then wiped down. They don’t have any pens in the voting booth,” he said.
In Ansonia, Jessica Bailey showed up to vote because she didn’t trust the postal system.
“I’d rather come out and vote so I know my vote is going to count," Bailey said. "With these absentee ballots from what we’ve been hearing who knows if they are going to get through.”
State officials said 300,000 voters applied for absentee ballots. That’s 10 times more than usual. They said it might indicate what would happen in November’s general election.
