Early voting draws about 6,000 voters on debut day in CT

The first day of Connecticut’s early voting started Tuesday for the presidential primary and close to 6,000 voters turned out to cast their ballot.

Over 4,000 Democrats and over 1,800 Republicans voted on Connecticut’s first day of early voting, according to the Office of the Secretary of the State.

“This is a historic moment for Connecticut,” Secretary Stephanie Thomas said in a statement. “We now have so many more opportunities for people to go out and vote.”

Thomas is encouraging people who are eligible to cast a ballot to help “stress-test” the system ahead of future elections. So far, the state reports no major systematic or legal problems, and has only received reports of minor technical issues with the new system.

Almost every state has implemented early voting, and Connecticut was among one of the last, with the measure going into effect this year after lawmakers’ approval.

As of this election, there are over 800,000 registered Democrats and almost 470,000 registered Republicans in Connecticut.

The state’s presidential primary is Tuesday, April 2.

Early voting will continue from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. There is no early voting on Good Friday, which is a state holiday. More information is available online.