By Tuesday afternoon, an impressive number of voters had been through the polls, officials said. And some sporadic problems were reported at polling locations.
Many towns had more than 50 percent voting rates as of 3:30 p.m., according to Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz. She described the turnout as "very impressive."
When all is said and done, Bysiewicz expects voter turnout to be around 90 percent. "The 2008 election will be one for the record books," said Bysiewicz. "All over the state, registrars and our teams on the ground are saying they have never seen this kind of turnout - ever."
Tuesday's numbers will rival the record. That was set in 1960, with 93 percent turnout. In 2004, voter turnout was 79 percent.
Many towns have double the number of absentee ballots cast as they had in 2004. Middletown had 1,700 this morning by 9 a.m., which Bysiewicz said may delay returns.
There have also been a few other problems reported across the state, many of which were fixed by using backup machines or cards, she asid.
In Bristol and Simsbury, there were memory card issues with optical scan machines. The elections officials are using backup cards, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said.
In West Hartford, one machine was not completely set up. The problem was fixed, she said. In Torrington, one machine malfunctioned and a backup machine was used. In Shelton, there was some screen damage on the tabulator and elections officials went to a back up machine.
In New Haven, one machine malfunctioned. Bysiewicz pointed out that there was only one problem among the city’s 52 polling places.
There was also a problem with the phone number to report voting problems but two new numbers were set up to accept reports of voting irregularities and voter rights issues.
The numbers are 860-256-2940 and 860-566-1776.
NBC30 would also like to hear of any problems you've encountered: newstips@nbc30.com
