Security

intimidated,” Foley said. “We want them to feel safe going to the polls. A heavy uniformed presence can intimidate, depending on one’s own internal thoughts. We don’t want to influence that either way.”

Stonington police Chief Darren Stewart, who serves as president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, said he is hoping that long lines can be avoided due to the large amount of early voting through absentee ballots across the state in a year with a record-breaking 2.3 million registered voters.

“The chiefs are acutely aware of concerns,” Stewart said Friday. “Every chief in Connecticut, I assume, has been in contact with their local election officials. Usually the only real calls that I ever remember at the polls, thank goodness, has been minor parking lot accidents, especially during the busy times. If that’s all that’s goes on, hopefully that’s all we have to deal with in Connecticut.”

Much of the voting takes place in public schools and other government buildings, where guns are banned. At other locations, however, guns are legal.

“The police are there to protect all rights, whatever they may be’“Stewart said. “We would encourage people not to bring their firearm to places of polling if at all possible.”

He added, “Most of the police chiefs around the country and around the state are hoping for a smooth election where people quickly come in and exercise their right to vote without any incidents at all — and then sit back and watch and see what happens later on TV that night, if we’ll even know.’’

At a news conference Friday at Hartford City Hall, state and local leaders urged residents to vote, underscoring the message of a giant banner that hung across the building’s ornate façade.

“We’re in a situation where there are attempts from the president and [other] groups to delegitimize the election — to try to take it away from the rightful winners,’’ said Josh Michtom, a Working Families Party member of the Hartford City Council. “Even in Connecticut, where we’re used to our votes not being that important, so to speak, in a national race, they’re extra, extra important this time because the more votes, the bigger the numbers, the more certainty, the more legitimacy, the more we’re able to resist those attempts to steal the election.”

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said he voted Thursday at city hall.

“This year, voting is easier than ever, and it is as important as ever, maybe more,” he said.

Wildaliz Bermudez, a Working Families Party member of the Hartford council, said citizens should not be afraid to cast ballots this year.

“Fear will not deter us. We have too muchat stake,” she said. “We must go out and vote as if our lives depended on it because our lives do.”

U. S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said senators heard about Russian attempts to meddle in the U.S. election during a recent classified security briefing.

“Believe me, it is chilling,” he said.