Politics & Government
City's Election Day Voter Turnout on Par with Towns Across Connecticut
In Middletown, just over 33 percent of registered voters cast a ballot on Nov. 5, which the Secretary of State's office says is common in off-year elections.
The city's Election Day turnout for municipal elections was on par for the average across all towns in Connecticut and 4 percent lower than it was two years ago, according to numbers released today by the Secretary of the State's office.
The total number of registered voters in Middletown is 22,053; of those, 7,303, or 33.12 percent, cast ballots on Nov. 5. There were also 37 same-day registrations at city hall.
Statewide voter turnout was 31.43 percent, Denise Merrill office has announced. The town with the highest voter turnout for the municipal offices was Bridgewater, where 77.39 percent of registered voters cast ballots. The municipality with the lowest voter turnout was Hartford, where only 5.21 percent hit the polls.
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“Municipal elections usually have lower turnout figures than state or Presidential elections, even though the impact of the decisions made by those elected to local government is huge in the community,” said Merrill.
Middletown's Democratic Mayor Dan Drew was re-elected last week by an overwhelming majority of votes and was sworn in along with common council, planning and zoning and other board members on Tuesday.
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“Many races were decided by just a handful of votes, and we had a number of recounts as a result, which shows once again how important it is to do your civic duty and cast a ballot. I also want to praise our local election officials for accommodating all of the new voters in Connecticut who used their new right to register and vote on Election Day," Merrill said.
During last year's Presidential election, Middletown won a Democracy Cup and Merrill, when presenting the award, characterized the city’s 89.86 percent voter turnout as “astonishing.”
Two years ago, 22,510 residents registered to vote in the city whose population at the time was 47,648. There were 8,156 unaffiliated voters, 10,891 Democrats, 3,334 Republicans and 129 other; and a 42.42 percent voter turnout.
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