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Conn. Democratic Absentee Voters Outpace Republicans By 3 To 1

Dave Eisenstadter
/
WSHU Public Radio

Connecticut officials anticipate the largest number of voters in state history to cast ballots in next Tuesday’s election. The state now has 2.3 million registered voters — 700,000 more than four years ago.

According to the Secretary of the State’s Office about 20 percent of Connecticut voters had returned absentee ballots by Wednesday night. More than half of them — about 270,000 — were registered Democrats. Another 184,000 were unaffiliated voters. And only 83,000 were Republicans.

UConn political scientist Ron Schurin said that doesn’t necessarily mean a big Democratic blowout.

“President Trump has cast doubt on whether there will be an honest count of returned mail-in ballots and so that has dissuaded some Republicans and maybe even some Democrats from voting by absentee ballot,” Schurin said.

Connecticut does not have early in-person voting, so the vast majority of state’s voters are likely to show up at the polls on Election Day.

As WSHU Public Radio’s award-winning senior political reporter, Ebong Udoma draws on his extensive tenure to delve deep into state politics during a major election year.