Community Corner

Registrar: Primary Voter Turnout Hits 17 Percent

Middletown's own Susan Bysiewicz, Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress, began campaigning early here, where she cast a ballot and greeted constituents before heading to West Hartford, Montville and Enfield to drum up support in the primary.

Editor's Note: Check back with Middletown Patch throughout the day for local primary coverage and results.

UPDATE: 7:15 p.m.

The 6 p.m. count, according to the registrar, is 2,325 votes. That is 16.96 percent turnout.

Find out what's happening in Middletownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

UPDATE: 4:45 p.m.

The 3 p.m. count, according to the registrar's office, was 1,636, or just below 12 percent of Middletown's registered vorters.

Find out what's happening in Middletownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

UPDATE: 2:35 p.m.

By 1 p.m., Republican Registrar of Voters Janice Gionfriddo said, 1,267 people had cast their ballot — 9.24 percent of of Middletown's 13,706 registered Republican and Democratic voters.

"Statewide, if you read the news, the media is predicting about 30 percent," Gionfriddo said. "In looking to see every hour where it's going up, we might get to 20, 25 percent."

"Some time we see there will be a little bit more of a rush or a little bit more of a flurry toward supper time," she said. "It would be nice to see a little more. It's nice to see interest."

Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress Susan Bysiewicz, 50, is traveling around the state today, greeting primary voters first at her home precinct, , just before 7 a.m., where she and her family cast ballots.

She and are battling for the chance to run against the winner of today's Republican primary — between and former U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays — for Sen. Joseph Lieberman's seat in Washington.

Just before noon, after greeting folks at Braeburn School in West Hartford, campaign manager Jonathan Ducote said Bysiewicz was on the phone, encouraging voters to get to the polls. "West Hartford has always been an important place in the Democratic primary," he said.

At Braeburn, she met with a young Girls State member. "A great program and great memories," she wrote on her Facebook page. "It's what inspired me to get involved in public life."

This afternoon, she's visiting the Mohegan Firehouse in Montville and Enfield High School before meeting supporters for an election night party at the at 8:30 p.m.

Turnout, Ducote said, was very low so far, but not unexpected. "It's affecting Murphy as well as us. It has to do more with the fact that it's the middle of August and primaries have historically had low turnout."

Over at on Court Street, regulars and supporters who look forward to her visits, say they haven’t seen Bysiewicz in a couple of days. She makes a daily pilgrimage there for her morning cup of coffee, and has a penchant for flavored varities.

The July 31 Public Policy Polling sampling of 771 likely Connecticut voters found Murphy with a lead of 17 points (49-32) over Bysiewicz, up from six points (39-33) in a three-candidate slate last fall, which included State Rep. William Tong. Murphy, the poll found, leads Bysiewicz among both men and women. Her favorability numbers were down from 38-30 to 36-38 since the last PPP poll.

Bysiewicz isn't letting those number phase her. Her state of mind, Ducote said, "is exactly where it should be."

"There is so much activity in the 5th District," Ducote said. "We're focusing on Congressional Districts 1-4, driving around trying to get the vote out."

PPP said Bysiewicz is “disliked by her base after some false attacks on Murphy’s record.” The 30-second Murphy attack ad takes aim at Murphy’s campaign contributions that he’s received since first being elected to Congress in 2006. Bysiewicz claimed that Murphy has received more hedge fund donations compared to any other Democrat in Congress.

This claim, as her campaign acknowledged, was inaccurate, however, as reported by CTNewsJunkie.com, Bysiewicz said the overall message stands true: Murphy received significant financial backing from Wall Street entities.

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