MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (WTNH)– Voters are heading to the polls for the state’s primary elections but between power issues and the coronavirus pandemic, this is an election unlike any other in recent history.
News 8 was in Middletown Tuesday morning, where the lights are on at McDonough Elementary, so people will be able to vote in person. Plenty of people in Middletown wanted to vote by absentee ballot, but they say they have not gotten their ballot in the mail yet.
Thankfully, the lights are on at the rest of the polling places in Connecticut. The Office of Denise Merrill confirmed to News 8 Tuesday morning that all polling locations have power — whether the power has been restored or running on generators. Several polling places had no power, including six of them Monday evening, due to the damage Tropical Storm Isaias had caused.
Related: Some polling places were without power, WiFi just hours before August primary
The state sent a million absentee ballot applications out so that people would not have to risk getting infected with Covid-19 in order to vote, so a lot more people requested those ballots than ever before.
Republicans claim there was an issue with the vendor the democratic secretary of the state used to print those ballots. One voter in Middletown tells us she did not get her ballot until Monday.
“I actually sent the application about a month ago and I was kinda afraid that I wasn’t going to get it so I was willing to go to the voting place tomorrow if I didn’t get it,” said Sonia McRoberts, Middletown.
“People still can’t get their ballots. She [secretary of state] is the one causing this problem, no one else,” said Sen Len Fasano, (R) Senate Minority Leader.
If your ballot did not come, you can still vote in person. Everybody voting in person is required to wear a mask. The results of Tuesday’s election may be less important than how well it works and what participation is like. If things do go well Tuesday, it would bode well for holding the general election in November with huge numbers of absentee ballots.
If you are voting absentee, please drop your ballot in the secure drop box outside your town’s offices before 8 p.m. If you can’t do that and you are mailing it, it has to be postmarked today. For all those voting in person, polls are open from 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. and you have to wear a face mask.
Remember this is a primary, so you have to be registered with a political party, and you can only vote in that party’s election.