New voters on the rise
In recent months, Democrats have gained about 32,000 voters; Republicans add about 16,000
New voter registrations in Connecticut have far outpaced corresponding numbers in the run-up to the 2016 race, showing the high interest in this year’s high-stakes presidential election.
New voter registrations in Connecticut have far outpaced corresponding numbers in the run-up to the 2016 race, showing the high interest in this year’s high-stakes presidential election.
From June 15 to Sept. 15, Democrats gained 32,432 voters, Republicans added 16,364 and new unaffiliated voters totaled 38,055, according to the secretary of the state’s office.
For the same period four years ago, Democrats added 17,127 voters, Republicans added 8,820 and the ranks of unaffiliated voters rose by 22,483.
The rising numbers — a 79% overall increase in new voter registration in the three-month period this year compared to 2016 — are even more noteworthy considering that the coronavirus pandemic has impacted automatic voter registration at state Department of Motor Vehicles locations, normally one of the biggest drivers of registrations, secretary of the state’s office spokesman Gabe Rosenberg said. The program started in August 2016.
The statewide tally of registered voters as of Wednesday was 2,213,000, with 822,187 Democrats, 461,668 Republicans, 893,178 unaffiliated voters and the balance from other parties.
Municipal voting officials say they are seeing the rising numbers in a steady stream of online applications. In Manchester, Democratic Registrar of Voters Jim Stevenson and Republican Registrar of Voters Tim Becker said 50-60 applications arrive each day on average. A weekend voter registration promotion on Facebook prompted a flood of about 600 applications on one recent Monday, Becker said.
In New Britain, more than 1,500 new registrations have come in since July 1 – with the biggest shares in the unaffiliated and Democratic columns.
“We’re definitely getting a very large uptick of people registering, and that’s both in person and online,” Democratic Registrar Lucian Pawlak said. “As a registrar I always look forward to that.”
A little more than 44 percent of the new voters are unaffiliated, nearly 43 percent enrolled as Democrats and just over 13 percent signed up as Republicans.
Windsor Democratic Registrar Anita Mips said the office is getting “way more” registrations than in past presidential elections.
“One Monday, after not being here since the previous Thursday, I had 101 online registrations,” Mips said.
“We are hoping this will make EDR (election day registration) a lot less, as that process is very involved and with social distancing may take a longer time,” she said.
In East Hartford, “the phones have been ringing off the walls” with people asking all sorts of questions about voting on Nov. 3, Republican Registrar of Voters Mary Mourey said.
“The high interest could translate into high turnout as well,” Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said. “I am encouraging all voters who choose to vote by absentee ballot to fill out their applications to request their ballot as soon as possible and to use the secure ballot drop box in your town to safely and conveniently return applications and ballots.”
The state has already begun mailing absentee ballot applications to all of the state’s 2.2 million registered voters.
Ronald Schurin, associate professor of political science at UConn, said the pandemic may be affecting the increased engagement.
“Perhaps more people have more time,” he said. “Perhaps people are just thinking more about politics and government as they’re home watching cable news.”
Schurin also said that while President Donald Trump retains strong support, antipathy towards him has grown since his 2016 candidacy. Figures for voter registrations from the last three presidential cycles — the four years leading up to the presidential election — also show more residents want to be part of the outcome of this race.
In the four-year runup to the 2012 election (Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney), Democrats added 67,418 voters, Republicans gained 36,138 and new unaffiliated voters totaled 73,860. The total of new voter registrations in that period, including other parties, was 180,689.
In the 2012-16 cycle leading up to Trump vs. Hillary Clinton, Democrats gained 132,184 voters, Republicans added 66,180 and unaffiliated voter ranks swelled by 13,361. The registration tally for the period was 339,183. Since Trump was elected in 2016, Democrats so far have added 219,958 voters, Republicans have gained 102,569 and new unaffiliated voters totaled 286,684. The total of new voters since Nov. 9, 2016, is 624,293, according to the secretary of the state’s office.
Windsor Town Clerk Anna Posniak, president of the Connecticut Town Clerks Association, said clerks statewide “are gearing up for a high-turnout election and an unprecedented number of absentee ballots, and we want to make sure that all voters, especially those voting for the first time, are educated on how to vote and are confident that their votes are cast and counted safely and securely.”
“We anticipate that many of these new voters will be voting by absentee ballot in light of the pandemic, and our main concern is ensuring that they correctly fill out their absentee ballot application and then the ballot,” Posniak said.
She noted in a typical presidential election, 7% of absentee ballots are rejected for various reasons.
“With absentee ballot applications hitting mailboxes in the next several days, we advise voters to carefully and completely fill out all sections of the application — including checking a reason for the ballot request and signing the form — in order to avoid delays in receiving the ballot,” Posniak said.
Merrill urged people who are not registered to visit myvote. ct.gov/register. She also reminded voters that polling places will be open for those who choose to vote in person.