Polls open today with votes already cast by one third of Connecticut’s 2.5 million voters, drawn by the novelty of the state’s first experience with early in-person voting, a tight national race for president and a scattering of competitive contests here for Congress and General Assembly.
With implications for control of the closely divided U.S. House of Representatives, the rematch between U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, and Republican George Logan is top of mind, if not top of a ballot. Hayes won two years ago by 2,004 votes.
A subtext in the elections is the degree to which the results in the General Assembly maintain or further erode the presence and influence of a GOP that steadily has lost voters and legislative seats in the years since Donald J. Trump first occupied the White House.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
[Got questions about today’s election? Check out CT Mirror’s 2024 voter guide here]
The presidency, a U.S. Senate seat, all five congressional seats, all 187 seats of the General Assembly and a constitutional amendment allowing the universal use of absentee ballots are on the ballot in Connecticut. No Republican has won the state in a presidential race since 1988, and Trump lost by double digits here both times.
Democrats hold both U.S. Senate seats, all five congressional seats and enjoy overwhelming majorities of 98-53 in the state House of Representatives and 24-12 in the state Senate. Four of the 12 GOP senators won with less than 51% of the vote two years ago, as did one Democrat. About 14 House seats are in play, split evenly among Democrats and Republicans.
Democrats and Republicans had a similar forecast: The best-case for Republicans likely was a net gain of two House seats; the ceiling for Democratic gains was higher, ranging from four to six.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is seeking his third term, facing Republican Matt Corey in a rematch of the 2018 race that Murphy won by 20 percentage points.
Two of the state Senate races to watch are in Fairfield County, once a Republican stronghold. Both involve Republican incumbents being challenged by former aides to Gov. Ned Lamont.
Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, clawed back the 36th District seat of Greenwich and portions of Stamford and New Canaan in a special election in 2021 and held it in 2022, each time with just 50.1% of the vote. He is opposed by Nick Simmons, who opted out of the voluntary public financing program to spend heavily on the race.
Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, who was reelected to his fifth term in the 28th District of Bethel, Easton, Fairfield, Newtown and Weston with 50.69% of the vote, is opposed by Rob Blanchard.
The others targeted by Democrats are:
Sen. Lisa Seminara, R- Avon, in the sprawling 8th District of Avon, Barkhamsted, Canton, Colebrook, Granby, Hartland, Harwinton, New Hartford, Norfolk, Simsbury and Torrington. She faces a rematch with Paul Honig, whom she defeated with 50.1% of the vote in 2022.
Sen. Jeff Gordon, R-Woodstock, who won his first term in the 35th District with 50.56% of the vote. He faces Merry C. Garrett.
The Democrat with the closest race two years ago was Sen. Mae Flexer, R-Windham, who won with 50.56% percent. But Flexer runs stronger in presidential years, helped by the turnout of students at the University of Connecticut and Eastern Connecticut State University. She is opposed by Chris Reddy.
Election officials here and nationally have taken unusual care to outline the mechanics of counting votes, anticipating a repeat of Trump’s false claims four years ago that votes not counted by midnight should be invalid.
As is the case with the vast majority of polling places throughout the U.S., every voting district in Connecticut uses paper ballots.
They are counted by tabulators that use optical scanning. Local registrars — and Connecticut’s elections are run the state’s 169 municipalities —must enter initial tabulator results into the state’s Election Management System by midnight. Officials have until Friday to make corrections or decide if recounts are necessary.
Final results are to be filed with the secretary of the state’s office no later than next Tuesday, Nov. 12.
The heavy use of early in-person and absentee voting could delay the posting of results election night. Those ballots are cast in envelopes that cannot be opened and tabulated until today — no sooner than 8 a.m. for early voting ballots and 10 a.m. for absentees.
The secretary of the state’s office reported Monday that 850,601 votes had been cast: 741,895 during the two weeks of early in-person voting that ended Sunday at 6 p.m. and another 108,706 by absentee. Those equate to an early turnout of 33%: 29.2% by early voting and 4.3% by absentee.
In Burlington, a small town at the western edge of Hartford County, more than half of its 7,645 voters had voted early. A dozen other towns had similar turnouts.
Absentee ballots can be cast up to the close of polling at 8 p.m. Mailed in ballots that arrive after the close will not be counted.