Primary voting ‘low but steady’ in 25 towns
The summer doldrums extended into Primary Day on Tuesday, with trickles of voters casting ballots by the time polls closed in 25 towns throughout Connecticut.
The highestprofile races were in Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford, where Democratic primaries tested the strength of seemingly entrenched Mayor Joe Ganim, Mayor Toni N. Harp and Mayor Luke Bronin, respectively.
Former Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, now chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, said that the party is likely to emerge stronger after the votes were tallied into the late evening.
“I just think that right now it’s exciting to see people come out, to challenge, to get involved,” Wyman said in a midafternoon phone interview. “I hope that tomorrow, we’re one party again. That’s our goal: to have a strong base for 2020.”
Her GOP counterpart felt the same.
“My hope after the primary is the local party comes together to ensure that Republicans win in November,” said Republican State Chairman J.R. Romano, who added he had not heard of any problems at polling places. “There’s nothing more frightening than a town led by a Democrat.”
Gabe Rosenberg, spokesman for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, said that turnout had been “low but steady,” depending on the towns and particular races. The failure of a backup tabulator machine in Hartford was quickly remedied, with moderators getting voters to place their completed ballots in a backup system for adding up later later in the day.
Democratic mayors in Hamden and West Haven also faced challenges, as did Republican first selectmen in Somers, Southbury and Voluntown.
In Bridgeport, Mayor Joe Ganim, who was reelected four years ago after winning an insurgent primary against an incumbent, was being challenged by state Sen. Marilyn Moore. Ganim lost the 2018 Democratic primary for governor to Ned Lamont. Moore has claimed that she had a backup plan, running on a Working Families Party line in November if she lost the primary. But Merrill’s office said Tuesday night that Moore fell short of the number of signatures needed to run an outsider challenge in November.
In Hartford, Mayor Luke Bronin, who also spent time on a campaign for governor in 2018, faced two primary challengers. Eddie A. Perez, the city’s former mayor who was forced to resign in 2010 after a corruption conviction, and Brandon McGee Jr., a state representative from Hartford, both attempted to unseat Bronin.
While most voting went smoothly, reporters in two cities faced inappropriate obstacles at the polls.
A radio reporter, Cassandra Basler, said on Twitter around 5 p.m. that three polling officials and a police officer approached her outside the Bassick High School polls in Bridgeport and said she wasn’t allowed there, even though her audio microphone was clearly marked with the logo of the WSHU, the local National Public Radio affiliate.
Merrill, the state’s chief election official tweeted around 6 p.m. that reporters are allowed at polling places. “We have addressed this with the local election officials in Bridgeport,” Merrill said.
Shortly before the polls closed at 8 o’clock, Rosenberg said that another reporter, in Middletown, has also been temporarily barred from a school, where classes were taking place.
At Bridgeport’s Thomas Hooker School where Maria Pereira spent the day asking voters to support her bid for a City Council seat, the voter count just broke 200 around 1 p.m. Last election, more than 700 votes were cast at the school.
“This is crazy,” Pereira said. “There is just no enthusiasm for either (mayoral) candidate. Last time there was. This year, people are like ummph.”
Sarah McIver, moderator of the polling station at the Howard Avenue firehouse, in the Hill neighborhood of New Haven, said the flow of voters was smooth, with no glitches and most who cast ballots were excited to be there as Justin Elicker challenged Harp for the party nomination.
In one case, when the polling officials there thanked a voter for casting her ballot, the woman responded, “it’s my duty,” McIver said.
Julie Anastasio, 39, who was outside the firehouse to support Elicker, said she wanted to “see positive change” in the city. Anastasio, who is working to become a school teacher in the city, was with her finance, Neftaly Otero, said she has been helping to campaign for several months and wanted to see the city become more united. She said Elicker “has proven himself.”
But Hill resident John Dye, a retiree who described himself as “pushing 80,” said he supported the candidacy of Harp, who is seeking a fourth term.
Dye said he thinks Harp knows the entire city, and while he does not agree with everything she has done, he believes she has had to make some hard decisions and is a candidate “for the people.”
There were 14 Republican primaries, including competitive races in East Haven and West Haven, as well as a threeway fight for the GOP nod in Bridgeport, a city where Republican voter registration is about onetenth that of Democrats’ 46,000.
There was no electionday registration for primaries.