Old Lyme Early Voting Draws Nearly 40% of Registered Voters

OLD LYME, CT – After roughly 39.8% of the town’s registered voters cast their ballots during the 14-day early voting period, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas came out Monday to thank local election officials for making it possible. 

Old Lyme’s 2,408 early votes came from 1,052 Democrats, 565 Republicans, 760 unaffiliated voters and 31 voters registered with other parties, according to Democratic Registrar of Voters Jennifer Datum. Twelve of those voters took advantage of the same-day registration option for those not already signed up to vote. 

Since early October, the Old Lyme Town Clerk’s office has received approximately 190 completed absentee ballots.  

Datum said 183 voters came through Town Hall on Sunday, the final day of early voting, compared to 47 the previous Sunday. 

She credited good weather and publicity about the last day of early voting.

“We had several people come in and say, ‘Oh, I was going to wait until Election Day, but then I thought, why not just get it done today,’” she said. 

Thomas said preliminary numbers show about 505,000 voters came out early statewide, which is a practice she likes to encourage.

“Trying to process all voters on one day is a lot,” she said.

Thomas stopped in Old Lyme as part of her “On the Road to Election Day” tour, which included Danbury, Kent, Waterbury, Wallingford, Scotland and East Haven. She described it as a chance to personally thank local officials who have spent months preparing for the general election. 

Thomas, who is running for a second term, was elected in 2022. 

Since early voting was rolled out in 2024, she said she has been able to spread out the visits to election officials across multiple days. But state rules prohibit her from visiting the polls when she’s on the ballot. 

“So, then I’m like, how do I get to thank people? And I’m like, ‘oh, I’ve got a loophole: one day,’” she said. 

That left the Monday between early voting and Election Day, according to Thomas. 

She said the itinerary was based on a plan to visit towns of various sizes across the state, with logistics determined largely by which stops made the most sense given the limited time frame. 

Thomas met with Datum, Democratic Deputy Registrar of Voters Katherine Thuma, Town Clerk Vicki Urbowicz and poll worker Traci Russell during her visit. 

Datum recognized Russell as “a star poll worker.” 

Russell, a stay-at-home mother who has been checking in voters for four years, said she worked about nine days of early voting this year. She described the job as a good fit for her because she likes working with people. 

“And I get to learn the inside view of how voting goes,” Russell said. “It’s surprisingly complicated.”

Datum, who was elected registrar in 2024 after serving in an appointed capacity for two years, said she started out as a poll worker who was encouraged along the way. 

“I feel like kids don’t grow up thinking, ‘I’m going to be a registrar,’” she said.

Initially recruited by Urbowicz, Datum said she began as a checker, then took on additional responsibilities as moderator and deputy registrar before becoming registrar.

Election workers make $25 an hour in Old Lyme. The Democratic and Republican registrars receive a salary of $19,966 annually, plus $35 per hour for early voting. 

Datum said she’s seen growing interest among the newest generation of voters. 

“I feel like kids that age are all about the elections. They are tuned in to what’s going on. And they’re going out of their way to figure out how to vote,” she said.

She encouraged them to consider signing up to work the elections as well. 

“We need young people,” she said.  

Datum said the visit was announced at the last minute, with Republican Registrar of Voters Catherine Carter unable to attend. 

Election Security 

For Thomas, the security of elections in the state comes down to “people, paper and proof.” 

She described registrars and town clerks as certified election officials who complete continuing education annually and must comply with chain-of-custody and security requirements.

Paper ballots provide a physical record of votes cast, Thomas said.

“When you feed that ballot into the tabulator, it’s not going into the cloud. It’s falling into a box,” she said.

She said ballots can be recounted and audited under certain circumstances, and tabulators must be sealed after elections for a certain amount of time to preserve the information. State statute specifies the tabulators are typically locked down for 14 days.

Ballots from federal elections are retained for 22 months. State and local election ballots must be retained for 180 days if not contested. 

“There are so many safeguards in place,” Thomas said.

Thuma, the deputy registrar, emphasized the way Old Lyme election officials work together across political parties. 

She recalled an evening during early voting when the tally was off by one. She said officials from both parties worked together to figure out the source of the problem.

“We’re all there working together, regardless of party or affiliation, to protect the sanctity of the electoral process, not to be pointing fingers or to be trying to work against each other,” Thuma said.

Thuma later said they identified the source of the discrepancy by cross-checking the state voter registration system with two paper records.

Thomas recalled a bipartisan effort at a 2024 conference of the Registrars of Voters Association of Connecticut, when more than 300 registrars and town clerks signed an open letter affirming their commitment to protecting voters’ rights.

The letter said officials from different political parties were united in their commitment to ensure safe, secure elections for all, regardless of affiliation.

“But those stories don’t get out,” Thomas said.

Polls will be open in Old Lyme Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School. Voters in line by 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote.