CT polls open in final stretch of bitter campaign season. Stay with us as we share updates all day.
With nearly a third of Connecticut's registered voters already casting ballots in the weeks before Tuesday's elections, polls in the state opened at 6 a.m., marking the close of long, exhausting candidate campaigns — topped by a bitter contest for who will lead the country for the next four years.
Across Connecticut, voting will remain open until 8 p.m. at the traditional polling spots around the state. Those standing in line at 8 p.m. will still be permitted to vote on Election Day.
At Glastonbury's Hebron Avenue School polling place, moderator Elizabeth Modugno said there was a line of about 30 voters lined up at 6 a.m., followed by heavy turnout through 8 a.m. At 9:30 a.m., there was still a steady stream of voters.
After casting their ballots at the school Tuesday, voters said a broad range of issues drew them to the polls, from the economy and foreign policy in the Middle East to simply taking up their civic duty to vote.
Virtually all the attention was focused on the race for the president — and there was some sentiment of uncertainty about the future.
Mike Bernhart, who voted for Harris, said he hoped the aftermath of the election would result in stability for the country.
"Honestly, I'm hoping that it doesn't create a massive negative change, which is my perception of one of the two directions it could go," Bernhardt said. "Not that I necessarily want everything to stay the same, but continuing down the way the country has been run for 200 and however many years, the way it was always intended in the Constitution."
Joe Demeo said he cast his vote for Trump, observing that the last four years under President Joe Biden "have been an absolute disaster and we need Trump and Vance back in."
"We already saw him as president once, and things went swimmingly," Demeo said. "There would be thousands of Israelis that would be alive today and Ukranians and Russians, if the election had gone differently. I firmly believe that."
Tim Holzman, a Democrat, said there was just one thing on his mind when he headed to the polls and that was how the war in the Middle East is affecting Gaza.
His feeling was so strong that he couldn't support Harris with his vote.
"There are some, call them, crimes against humanity taking place over there, and we are participating knowingly," Holzman said. "Harris has indicated to me that she isn't going to do anything about it.
"I agree with the Democrats on most of the social-type issues," Holzman said. "I just can't be involved in that."
At Farmington's brand new high school, voters on both sides of the political spectrum expressed pessimism about the election and whether its outcome would improve the country.
Pamela Morrison-Wolf said she felt "hopeless in a way."
Most important to her "for this election: representation of the citizens, not special groups. Too often unique populations have said 'We're in charge, we have the most to gain, we're going to do it, we're going to make a difference' but it's rarely for everybody."
Ralph Daily, who came to vote with his wife and children, said legal immigration was the most important issue to him.
"They're not enforcing the laws that are already on the books. We have lots of laws in America but they're not being enforced," he said. "My wife is an immigrant but she went through the legal process, she had to jump through hoops to get here. You've got to pay a lot of money as opposed to saying okay, you got here one way or another, you're suddenly legal. What about the people who are trying to do it legally? It doesn't seem fair."
John Baily said immigration, taxes and the economy are the most important issues to him but in the election, he's been "Real disappointed. Lots of name calling. Not much in the way of what we're going to do."
Many of Connecticut's voters had already cast their ballots before Election Day, thanks to early voting. While early voting is new to many residents, the presidential election — pitting Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris against Republican Donald J. Trump — is actually the third time that Connecticut has had early voting. But the two previous times were for primaries that attracted smaller numbers of voters: the presidential preference contests in early April and the low-turnout primaries in August.
Voters in Connecticut jumped on the opportunity to cast their ballots, with a surprising 741,845 residents heading to their polling places ahead of Election Day, according to the Secretary of State's office. More than 100,000 voters also submitted absentee ballots. Nationally, more than 78 million Americans voted early driven by the partisan clash at the top of the ticket for president.
Despite the huge volume of votes, officials said they were not anticipating problems because the early votes can be opened and counted starting at 6 a.m. on Election Day. Absentee ballots can be opened and counted starting at 10 a.m. under state law.
Law enforcement authorities also have plans in place to keep voting secure.
A handful of towns also are piloting new tabulating machines that can count ballots more quickly, including New Haven, a city known for high voter turnout.
Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas, though, says officials are prepared after the high turnout of 1.8 million voters in the 2020 presidential election between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.
Besides the marquee presidential race, voters in Connecticut are casting ballots for the U.S. Senate, five regional U.S. House of Representatives seats, and all 187 seats in the Connecticut legislature.
Two-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is battling in a rematch against East Hartford restaurant owner Matthew Corey, a Republican, who lost to Murphy six years ago by 20 percentage points.
Two other candidates are on the ballot, Justin C. Paglino of the Green Party and Robert Finley Hyde of the Cheaper Gas Groceries Party, which he created this year as he gathered enough signatures to secure a spot on line 2G.
In Connecticut's 5th District, the contest pitting incumbent U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Democrat, against Republican George Logan is being watched nationally. The race is in a rematch of the 2022 race that Hayes won by less than one percentage point. As a result, both national parties targeted the race, which this year will help decide the U.S. House majority and the next Speaker.
Connecticut voters also are choosing choose who will represent them in Connecticut's legislature.
