Live updates: Voting light in Hartford; taxes, schools, development on voters’ minds in Orange

A total of 11.27% of voters had turned out to the polls in reporting towns as of noon, according to the secretary of the state’s office, and voting was light in Hartford.

All but one of Connecticut’s 169 towns and cities were holding elections Tuesday.

A few towns showed turnout over 20%: Kent, 23.57%, Greenwich, 23.4%, Franklin, 21.4%, Woodbridge, 20.53%. But many towns had yet to report figures to the state, including the three big cities of Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven.

At the polling place in the South End Wellness Senior Center in Hartford, turnout for the mayoral and City Council contests was light just after 9 a.m., with just 39 voters casting ballots, according to moderator Antwane Neely.

Neely said he expected heavier numbers of voters later in the day.

“It gets busy when people are getting out of work,” Neely said. “That’s when you start getting the lines, people coming in.”

Outside the senior center, Luis and Rosie DeLeon, lifelong Democrats and longtime city residents, said the right to vote is crucial, particularly at the local level.

“Voting is the power to get the right people in,” Luis DeLeon said.

The DeLeons said they voted for Arunan Arulampalam, the endorsed Democratic mayoral candidate. They said they were impressed by his campaign pledges to improve the quality of life in the city, issues very much on their minds.

The DeLeons pointed to problems with blight, noise, speeding motor vehicles and rodents. “We never had rodents before,” Rosie DeLeon said.

Both the DeLeons said they have high hopes for Arulampalam, if he wins the election. “But we’ve got to see his work and what he does,” Rosie DeLeon said.

As of 9 a.m., 1,227 ballots had been cast across the city, about 2% of Hartford’s 73,100 registered voters, according to the unofficial tally by the city’s registrar of voters office.

After voting at the Hartford Public Library downtown, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who is not seeking reelection, noted that modern political campaigns are lengthy.

“What’s important now is for us, as a city, to move past the politics and focus on the work of moving Hartford forward and continuing to build momentum,” he said.

“It’s important for us as a city, no matter who you supported in the primary or who you cast your vote for today, to come together as part of one team and one city to do the work of building a stronger, healthier, more vibrant city,” Bronin said.

Taxes, open space, education and economic development were top of mind for voters in Orange on Tuesday, where a steady though not crowded stream of voters headed into the High Plains Community Center.

The town has its own elementary education system but is part of the Amity Regional School District for the middle and high school.

“I want to make sure we support our schools,” said Melissa Johnston, a Democrat who is running for a seat on the Board of Selectmen.

Johnston, a mother of two who has worked in the business world for 20 years, said she thinks more planning can be done to “get people involved and bring businesses to Orange” and she wants to see a data-driven approach, resulting in “engaging the community more about what they want to see, a look at long-term planning.”

“We need to make sure residents have the best experiences here,” she said, adding that she supports seeing more women elected as well as more parents becoming involved.

Dominick Lombardi, vice chairman of the Republican Town Committee, said he predicts a GOP victory as the result of economic successes the town has seen, including with housing and mixed-use developments.

“The economy is on people’s minds,” he said, noting local leaders can’t affect inflation but can lower taxes to help residents.

But Lombardi said while there have been disagreements on some issues — such as development of a local park — residents also want to preserve the “value of neighbor helping neighbor” in town. He said that is on voters’ minds and is a goal of the GOP ticket.

On education, he said, the goal is “to give teachers the necessary resources to help students become well-rounded individuals.”

A total of 45,276 absentee ballots have been returned to town registrars of voters as of 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to the secretary of the state’s office.

That total includes 23,720 Democratic ballots, 10,549 Republican, 10,548 unaffiliated and 459 “other.”

There were 54,609 absentee ballots issued this election season, the secretary of the state’s office reported.

The town with the most absentee ballots returned was Greenwich, with 2,225, followed by Milford, 1,937; Stamford, 1,711; and Bridgeport, 1,691.

Connecticut residents who have questions or want to report a problem at a polling place can call the Election Day Hotline at (866) 733-2463 (1-866-SEEC-INFO) or contact elections@ct.gov. Staff will be available by phone and by email until 8 p.m.

Connecticut election results will be updated throughout the evening Tuesday. Read our complete election coverage. Here’s a guide to voting in today’s election.

Check back for updates.

Ed Stannard can be reached at estannard@courant.com. Kenneth R. Gosselin and Pamela McLoughlin contributed to this story.