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Meriden Election Results: Romney Wins, Most Voters Stay Home

Romney takes Meriden's low-turnout GOP presidential primary.

As expected, Mitt Romney handily won Meriden's Republican presidential primary today. He garnered a total of 301 votes out of 531 cast, according to figures released by Meriden City Clerk Irene Masse.

Ron Paul finished second with 94 votes, Newt Gingrich came in third with 71 votes, and Rick Santorum--who dropped out of the race--got 51 votes. Fourteen ballots were uncommitted.

Voter turnout was an abysmal 12.6 percent. Statewide, turnout was only slightly better at 14.3 percent.

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Just 531 votes were cast at Meriden's 17 polling places today. The city has 4,215 registered Republicans. In three precincts, voters numbered in the single digits, making for a long day for poll workers. 

Republican Registrar of Voters Lillian (Toni) Soboleski reports that 1,233 votes were cast in the last GOP presidential primary in 2008, representing 29.5 percent of eligible voters. At that time, Meriden had 4,169 registered Republicans, she said.

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Romney also took the election statewide with 67 percent of the vote, followed by Ron Paul with 13.4 percent and Newt Gingrich with 10.4 percent, according to the Secretary of the State's office's town-by-town results

Romney easily prevailed in the other four Northeastern states holding primaries today, as well: Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

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