Town leaders to be decided in 168 CT towns today. Here’s what to know, how to report problems

The polls are open in all 168 Connecticut towns today for residents to pick their town leaders.

The winners of today’s election will go on to set policy on local issues such as tax rates, revenues, school curriculum, land use and development, and how tax dollars are spent.

Today’s election includes races for mayor, town councils, boards of selectmen and boards of education and other local officials, but no statewide or national seats. There are also a handful of towns with referendum questions on issues such as bonding for town projects and Simsbury voters will decide whether marijuana can be sold in town.

“At the end of the day, municipal elections are literally about plowing the streets, picking up the trash, making sure the parks are safe, making sure the schools work, making sure the health department works properly, making sure the police, fire department, and EMS services are properly deployed. It always amazes me that the single most impactful election that we have has the lowest turnout of any election,” state Republican Chairman Ben Proto has said.

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Connecticut has 1.5 million registered voters; 502,482 are registered as Republican, 898,303 as Democrats, 40,143 as third party members and 917,529 unaffiliated. But with no statewide or national races on the ballot, turnout is expected to be low, as is often the case with off-year elections.

But not all votes will be cast at the polls today. According to the secretary of the state’s office, 52,788 absentee ballots have been issued for this election. So far, 37,352 have been returned, the majority by Democrats. Of the total returned, 19,641 have been by Democrats.

See Connecticut’s historical election history at: https://electionhistory.ct.gov/eng/

The security of absentee ballots has come into question after videos surfaced that appear to show a Bridgeport city employee making seven trips to a ballot box and dropping in papers before the mayoral primary that pits Mayor Joe Ganim against challenger John Gomes.

Although Gomes won more votes on the election tabulators on primary day, Ganim pulled ahead in the final tally by 251 after receiving an overwhelming number of absentee votes. According to the Gomes campaign attorney, videos from cameras trained on the absentee ballot box showed about 420 people placed ballots into the boxes, but more than 1,250 ballots were actually collected from the boxes.

Gomes soon after filed a civil lawsuit that led to a trial and a judge has ordered a new primary in the race. The state legislature later approved hire of a special election monitor to combat fraud.

How to vote

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at local polling places across Connecticut. Voting locations are often in schools, most of which are closed today. To find out where to vote, visit portaldir.ct.gov/sots/LookUp.aspx.

Anyone who is registered, regardless of party affiliation, is eligible to vote and while advance registration ends seven days before an election, Connecticut offers same-day registration at one location per town. Those who are residents of a town may seek same-day registration there, so long as they are over 18 years old and a US citizen. Proof of identity and residency are required. Each town’s election day registration location can be found at portal.ct.gov/SOTS/Election-Services/Election-Day-Registration/EDR-Location-Page.

While polls close at 8 p.m., those who are in line either at the polls or for election day registration can vote as long as they are in line by 8 p.m.

Sample ballots are available, along with other voting information on the secretary of state’s website, at portal.ct.gov/SOTS/Election-Services/Town-Ballots/2023-November-Municipal-Town-Ballots.

Connecticut residents who have questions or want to report a problem at a polling place can call the Election Day Hotline at 1-866-733-2463 (1-866-SEEC-INFO) or contact elections@ct.gov. Staff will be available by phone and by email from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Courant reporter Christopher Keating contributed to this article.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the number of town’s voting in Tuesday’s election. One town does not hold elections in November.