Connecticut voters encountered few problems at the polls by midday Tuesday as they cast ballots in a tight national race for president and a scattering of competitive contests here for Congress and General Assembly.

More than 740,000 people were drawn by the novelty of the state’s first experience with early in-person voting, according to Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas. Some towns, such as Norwalk, West Hartford and Stamford, had more than 17,000 early voters each, she said.

By 11 a.m., 34% of eligible voters had cast ballots, she said.

The few problems reported were minor, she said.

“Many election cycles, we have heard about several tabulators failing [Election Day morning], but the replacements have gone in. We’ve heard a lot of people have called about a question about procedures, either from early voting or they weren’t sure about things like curbside voting.”

In North Stonington, many early ballots were deemed invalid because the envelopes containing them hadn’t been signed. Hundreds of people had to return to the polls.

Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas provided updated voter turnout numbers as of 11 a.m. Election Day. Credit: Jessika Harkay / CT Mirror

“Whenever humans are involved, human error is possible,” Thomas said on Tuesday. “It’s really unfortunate that, despite — I can’t even tell you how many hours of training and handbooks and office hours and an emergency hotline — that that error ever was made, but it was. I do appreciate all of our partners coming together very quickly to try to solve that issue.”

Thomas said about 900 of the 1,100 invalid ballots in North Stonington were “accounted for.”

“Either they already come back, or they had scheduled that they would be back today,” Thomas said. 

As for the remaining 200, “their votes will not be counted,” Thomas said. 

Thomas voiced support for a ballot curing process “if we do it this way again.”

“Part of the reason people keep asking me ‘How come there’s an envelope and how come we’re not using the tabulators?’ It was decided in 2022 going into 2023 that because our tabulators were not as reliable as they could be — we didn’t want to risk all of the extra movements,” Thomas said. “Now that we will have new equipment for 2025, I think the legislature can definitely look at whether, like most places, we can get rid of the envelope all together and use the tabulator for early voting.”

With implications for control of the closely divided U.S. House of Representatives, the rematch between U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, and Republican George Logan is top of mind, if not top of a ballot. Hayes won two years ago by 2,004 votes.

A subtext in the elections is the degree to which the results in the General Assembly maintain or further erode the presence and influence of a GOP that steadily has lost voters and legislative seats in the years since Donald J. Trump first occupied the White House.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

At the polls

Sarah Boaventura brought her 9-year-old daughter with her to vote Tuesday at the Mohegan Elementary School in Shelton. She was excited to vote for former President Donald Trump, she said.

She thinks the economy will be better off under him and says she hasn’t seen the changes she’d hoped for in the last four years while Kamala Harris was vice president. Her daughter, who came with her the last time she voted, proudly wore a “Future Voter” sticker.

“When he was president, I think the country was in a better position,” Boaventura said.

While presidential candidates dominated the headlines this election season, voters in Farmington on Tuesday wanted to hear more from candidates for Congress and the General Assembly than just their opinions about Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

“That’s pretty much sucking up all of the air,” said Carolyn DeGrand, 53, a client senior executive with Cigna and a Trump supporter.

DeGrand, who joined her 21-year-old daughter, Maya, in casting ballots at the West Woods Upper Elementary School, said she was supporting candidates ready to reverse four years of inflationary impacts and a sluggish economy.

“I’m definitely worse off” now than in 2020, she added.

The state races “affect you more personally than the presidential does,” Peter Dean, a 32-year-old Republican, said.

Candidates looking for Dean’s support needed to have plans to bolster K-12 education and curriculum, he said while carrying his 2-year-old son, Owen, from the West Woods school.

A 24-year-old nurse, Katy Miceli, said many young people struggle, despite good jobs, with student loan debt and high rental costs that make home ownership increasingly difficult.

“My generation doesn’t really own anything yet, because we can’t,” Miceli, an independent voter, said, adding that candidates who tackled this issue stood to win support from young voters.

But another young unaffliated voter, 25-year-old Briana Bak, said all candidates’ views on the presidential race speak to their character and therefore matter.

Bak, an athletic trainer, said she backed Kamala Harris because she has the best plans to improve health care, affordable housing and tax relief.

The vice president’s character also shines, Bak said.

“As a person, I think, she stands out pretty well,” she added.

Key Trump appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court backed the 2022 Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that gave the federal and state governments broad discretion to reduce access to abortion services.

But offensive Trump comments about women and minorities also leave Bak distrustful of the former president — and others who campaign alongside him.

“I don’t really understand what there is to support about him,” she said.

Tuesday marked Ken Whiting’s first time voting. The Milford resident has avoided it for years because he disagrees with the structure of elections. He thinks voters should have a say after candidates have had a little time in office, not just at the start of a term.

“It’s a job, right?” he said outside the Milford City Parsons Government Center. “You should have to prove yourself.”

This year, everyone he knows was talking about the election so much that he caved in and voted. He still disagrees with the system.

He voted for Trump, he said, because he thinks he’s down-to-earth and an anti-establishment candidate.

Amanda Milewski voted with her son Zion in New Britain on Tuesday. Credit: Laura Tillman / CT Mirror

At Chamberlain Elementary School in New Britain, Yadira Maldonado had been outside advocating for candidate Bobby Sanchez for state representative since 7am. Maldonado said it had been a busy day at the polling place.

“Social media has helped things a lot, because it’s reaching out to people that before didn’t vote. There was not that information out there, how easy that it is now.”

Amanda Milewski came to the polling place with her son, Zion. Milewski said that she voted for Trump, largely based on concerns about the economy.

“With things being a lot cheaper years ago, and being a single mom, it matters a lot to me. I want things to get lower and the economy to get back to where it should be.”

Heaven Rodriguez voted with her mother Melissa Melendez on Tuesday in New Britain. Credit: Laura Tillman / CT Mirror

Melissa Melendez visited the polling place with her daughter, Heaven Rodriguez, and said the voting process was smooth and easy. The mother and daughter both voted for Kamala Harris and said that the chance to vote for a woman for president mattered to them.

“I don’t like Trump. He’s an idiot,” Melendez said, but added she’s not entirely happy with Harris either. “There are things he may make sound interesting, and correct, and on point. And there are things that she may make where it’s like ugh, no, I’m against that. But he has more negatives than positives.”

Doug and Terry Sutherland started campaigning for Harris at the Daniels Farm Elementary School polling location in Trumbull at around noon Tuesday. They said they planned to stay at least two hours or until someone came to relieve them.

Doug Sutherland said he likes Harris’ plan on housing and thinks she can fix the problems with the immigration system.

“We’re passing the torch to a new generation of hopeful people, not hateful people,” he said.

In Branford, where about half of registered voters had voted early, things were quiet.

Nkenge Haines, who has lived in Branford for 7 years and works at Yale, said she voted for Harris.

“I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if I didn’t vote,” she said.

Nkenge Haines of Branford said she voted for Kamala Harris. Credit: Jan Ellen Spiegel / CT Mirror

John Galalee, a 40-year Branford resident and child psychiatrist, said he didn’t vote for U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, because of her support for the expansion of Tweed Airport.

Asked if the results of the election will change the divisiveness in the country, Galalee was skeptical.

“Whoever wins, there’s no immediate end,” he said. “Perhaps, if Harris wins, the end will be sooner than it would be if Trump wins. Certainly, if Trump loses, there’s no end for him. … He’s not going to admit that he lost.”

“But I have some optimism that our system will sort that out.”

[Got questions about today’s election? Check out CT Mirror’s 2024 voter guide here]

What’s at stake

The presidency, a U.S. Senate seat, all five congressional seats, all 187 seats of the General Assembly and a constitutional amendment allowing the universal use of absentee ballots are on the ballot in Connecticut. No Republican has won the state in a presidential race since 1988, and Trump lost by double digits here both times.

Democrats hold both U.S. Senate seats, all five congressional seats and enjoy overwhelming majorities of 98-53 in the state House of Representatives and 24-12 in the state Senate. Four of the 12 GOP senators won with less than 51% of the vote two years ago, as did one Democrat. About 14 House seats are in play, split evenly among Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats and Republicans had a similar forecast: The best-case for Republicans likely was a net gain of two House seats; the ceiling for Democratic gains was higher, ranging from four to six.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is seeking his third term, facing Republican Matt Corey in a rematch of the 2018 race that Murphy won by 20 percentage points.

Two of the state Senate races to watch are in Fairfield County, once a Republican stronghold. Both involve Republican incumbents being challenged by former aides to Gov. Ned Lamont.

Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, clawed back the 36th District seat of Greenwich and portions of Stamford and New Canaan in a special election in 2021 and held it in 2022, each time with just 50.1% of the vote. He is opposed by Nick Simmons, who opted out of the voluntary public financing program to spend heavily on the race.

Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, who was reelected to his fifth term in the 28th District of Bethel, Easton, Fairfield, Newtown and Weston with 50.69% of the vote, is opposed by Rob Blanchard.

The others targeted by Democrats are: 

Sen. Lisa Seminara, R- Avon, in the sprawling 8th District of Avon, Barkhamsted, Canton, Colebrook, Granby, Hartland, Harwinton, New Hartford, Norfolk, Simsbury and Torrington. She faces a rematch with Paul Honig, whom she defeated with 50.1% of the vote in 2022.

Sen. Jeff Gordon, R-Woodstock, who won his first term in the 35th District with 50.56% of the vote. He faces Merry C. Garrett.

The Democrat with the closest race two years ago was Sen. Mae Flexer, R-Windham, who won with 50.56% percent. But Flexer runs stronger in presidential years, helped by the turnout of students at the University of Connecticut and Eastern Connecticut State University. She is opposed by Chris Reddy.

Election officials here and nationally have taken unusual care to outline the mechanics of counting votes, anticipating a repeat of Trump’s false claims four years ago that votes not counted by midnight should be invalid.

As is the case with the vast majority of polling places throughout the U.S., every voting district in Connecticut uses paper ballots. 

They are counted by tabulators that use optical scanning. Local registrars — and Connecticut’s elections are run the state’s 169 municipalities —must enter initial tabulator results into the state’s Election Management System by midnight. Officials have until Friday to make corrections or decide if recounts are necessary.

Final results are to be filed with the secretary of the state’s office no later than next Tuesday, Nov. 12.

The heavy use of early in-person and absentee voting could delay the posting of results election night. Those ballots are cast in envelopes that cannot be opened and tabulated until today — no sooner than 8 a.m. for early voting ballots and 10 a.m. for absentees.

The secretary of the state’s office reported Monday that 850,601 votes had been cast: 741,895 during the two weeks of early in-person voting that ended Sunday at 6 p.m. and another 108,706 by absentee. Those equate to an early turnout of 33%: 29.2% by early voting and 4.3% by absentee.

In Burlington, a small town at the western edge of Hartford County, more than half of its 7,645 voters had voted early. A dozen other towns had similar turnouts.

Absentee ballots can be cast up to the close of polling at 8 p.m. Mailed in ballots that arrive after the close will not be counted.

CT Mirror staff writers Ginny Monk, Jessika Harkay, Keith Phaneuf, Laura Tillman and Jan Ellen Spiegel contributed to this report.