Voters stormed the polls at a record rate in Hamden and Connecticut Tuesday for the 2020 election.
Connecticut saw a record-turnout at the polls yesterday. According to Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s office, the state had about 2.3 million registered voters this year, a few hundred thousand more than the 2016 election.
As of noon Wednesday, about 50%of those registered voters had voted either in person or by absentee ballot. The total turnout for the 2016 election was about 77%.
This morning the attendance was greater than we expected, and the turnout today was extraordinary.”said George Schneider, District 4 polling station moderator.
Lines were long for most of the day, and some people had to make multiple trips to try and get into the polls.
“I came in at 5:30 this morning and it was so packed, more than 2008. I had to go to work so now I came on my lunch break,” Hamden resident Pauline Obura said.
Josh Elliott, candidate for re-election to the State House of Representative in Connecticut’s 88th district, said he wouldn’t be surprised if Hamden broke 80 or 90 percent turnout for this election.
According to the Hamden Registrar, over 14,000 voters voted for Joe Biden, and over 6,000 voted for Donald Trump yesterday, and the numbers are still rising.
Sean Grace, chair of the Hamden Democratic Committee, shared numbers that show over 68,700 total votes were placed in Hamden yesterday for all the elections.
The registrar said it’s one of the best turnouts the town’s ever seen, and as of 11 a.m. today, they still had over 6,000 absentee ballots to count.
A key factor in this year’s election was the younger voter populations vote. For most college students, this was the first election they could vote in.
“This is the first time younger generations are getting a chance to put their voices out there, not because they haven’t been able to in the past, but because there hasn’t been a push to get their voice out there until now,” said Alyssa Lawson, an undergraduate intern in the Office of Community Service. “I just think it’s important that everyone’s going out and doing what they can to make their voice heard.”