Slow Early Voting Turnout Gives Old Lyme Officials Practice for November

OLD LYME, CT – Early voting started off slowly this week as election officials used the Democratic primary to familiarize themselves with new procedures ahead of the general election this fall.

Head moderator Fred Verillo at the Town Hall polling place on Monday afternoon said 68 people had come through the doors, with early voting scheduled through Aug. 9 and primary day to be held Aug. 11.

Voters must be registered members of the Democratic Party to participate. There are currently 1,897 Democrats registered to vote in town, according to Deputy Registrar of Voters Katherine Thuma. There is no Republican primary being held in Lyme or Old Lyme.

“It truly is a good learning process for November,” Verillo said. The general election will include races for governor and other constitutional state offices, as well as contests for the U.S. Congress and state legislature.

Based on provisions signed into law this spring by Gov. Ned Lamont, early voters now cast their ballots using the tabulator instead of placing ballots in signed envelopes. Each voter must sign a logbook affirming that they are casting only one ballot.

Verillo said the change hasn’t been noticeable for voters accustomed to using tabulators on primary day and Election Day.

“Nobody’s made any comments,” he said.

The early voting results will be calculated on primary day along with absentee and primary day ballots.

The moderator acknowledged seven days of early voting plus primary day voting on Aug. 11 is “a lot” for poll workers and the town budget to handle.

He said it would be preferable if the length of early voting could be adjusted for size. He pointed to Union, a town of 785 residents according to the 2020 U.S. Census, where election officials must still offer the same number of early voting days as the state’s largest municipalities.

Verillo’s comments come as the town’s election-related expenses have increased in recent years. The current budget allocates $145,035 for the registrars of voters. That’s up from $83,340 in 2023, before early voting was instituted the following year, and nearly triple the $53,886 spent during the single-day 2018 primary cycle when Lamont last faced a contested primary.

Verillo emphasized he supports early voting, but encouraged officials to examine the resources required to administer it in smaller municipalities.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated with the current number of registered Democrats.