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More than 56K voters cast ballots on first day of early voting in CT

Bridgeport Democratic Registrar of Voters Patricia Howard gives instructions to voters waiting in line at the Margaret Morton Government Center polling place in Bridgeport on October 21, 2024. This is the first general election the city offered early voting, and turnout on the first day was high with lines stretching through the hallways of the building.
Ryan Caron King
/
Connecticut Public
Bridgeport Democratic Registrar of Voters Patricia Howard gives instructions to voters waiting in line at the Margaret Morton Government Center polling place in Bridgeport on October 21, 2024. This is the first general election the city offered early voting, and turnout on the first day was high with lines stretching through the hallways of the building.

More than 56,000 Connecticut voters cast ballots on Monday, the first day of early voting for the general election.

That’s about 2.5% of eligible voters, election officials said.

Towns across the state reported long lines of voters on Monday – and some left without voting, hoping to return when lines were shorter.

Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said she’s glad to see voters take advantage of in-person early voting.

“It provides voters more opportunities to cast their ballot, which is helpful for those with challenging schedules or when any last-minute issues make getting to the polls on Election Day impossible,” Thomas said in a statement.

This is the first presidential election in which Connecticut voters can participate in early voting. Connecticut is among the last states in the U.S. to implement early voting. In 2022, voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow for in-person early voting.

Residents across Connecticut were eager to get to the polls on Monday.

Marvin Franks, 79, cast his ballot in Waterbury. Franks, who is African American, said voting is important to him because some of his ancestors were not allowed to vote in the United States.

Franks said he was arrested as a college student in South Carolina during a demonstration for voting rights in the 1960s.

“It was just a protest [for] the rights of people to vote, that's all. We wanted to vote,” Franks said.

Daniel DeJesus also cast his ballot in Waterbury. This marked a special moment for DeJesus, who says it was his first time casting a ballot.

He says he's voting for former President Donald Trump, who he thinks can restore order to the country.

"I feel like I have a reason to vote right now, with the way this country has been going in the last three years," DeJesus said. "It made me get up out of my seat and come and vote."

DeJesus said his work schedule would have made it difficult for him to make it to the polls on Election Day. Without early voting, he said he probably would not have cast a ballot this year.

Early voting continues until Nov. 3, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. most days. Early voting is extended from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on Oct. 29 and Oct. 31.

Election Day is Nov. 5.

Learn more

Find early voting locations here. Explore Connecticut Public's voter guide here.

Mark Mirko is Deputy Director of Visuals at Connecticut Public and his photography has been a fixture of Connecticut’s photojournalism landscape for the past two decades. Mark led the photography department at Prognosis, an English language newspaper in Prague, Czech Republic, and was a staff-photographer at two internationally-awarded newspaper photography departments, The Palm Beach Post and The Hartford Courant. Mark holds a Masters degree in Visual Communication from Ohio University, where he served as a Knight Fellow, and he has taught at Trinity College and Southern Connecticut State University. A California native, Mark now lives in Connecticut’s quiet-corner with his family, three dogs and a not-so-quiet flock of chickens.
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