SUZIO WINS - Update 8:35 p.m.

Meriden – 8:35 p.m.

Thomas Bruenn has just called Len Suzio to concede defeat. Suzio is about to give a speech. See Patch's story on election results here: http://patch.com/A-fsm0

Meriden – 7:14 p.m.

With less than an hour before polls close, the Meriden registrar is reporting that 15.6 percent of the 32,622 registered voters have cast ballots in today's special election. That's 5,092 voters in the city.

Meriden – 6:28 p.m.

At about 5:30 p.m., Thomas Bruenn was standing in the parking lot of New Life Church on Bee Street – a polling site for today’s special election – talking with voters, when a woman in scrubs rushing into the building called out “I’m voting for you, you were my teacher!”

Bruenn characteristically quipped, “I must have passed her.”

The Democratic candidate’s day was spent at polling sites throughout the four District 13 towns. It started at Nathan Hale in Meriden where Bruenn voted at 7 a.m. this morning, he said. He then moved on to Cheshire, and spent some time at Cheshire High School with Congressman Chris Murphy, and from there to the South Fire District and Farm Hill School in Middletown. He continued his District 13 tour at Middlefield’s community center, then New Life Church in Meriden, and finally Platt High School in Meriden.

Bruenn said he has had a good reception but that most voters didn’t stop long and chat. “They’re ready to get to vote and go home,” he said.  

Like Resa Rinaldi, the woman who called out to him, Bruenn said his students have been saying hello at the polls, and have contributed to the campaign.

Rinaldi is a local registered nurse. She said she had Bruenn as a computer teacher in the early 1980s.

“He was a great teacher, a smart man – a very smart man,” she said.

Cheshire - 6:00 p.m.

Just over 10 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots by 4 p.m. in Cheshire.

Registrar of voters Aleeta Looker said 1,407 residents had voted out of about 13,500 eligible voters in the district.

"We're very hopeful that after supper, or work, people will go vote," Looker said.

At Dodd Middle School not a single campaign sign was posted and throughout town, only one Suzio sign was to be seen, on busy Route 10.

A poll worker at Dodd said only about 135 people had voted at that location as 4 p.m.

Assistant Registrar of Voters Tom Smith said campaign signs were also missing from other polling locations in town with only officials election signs from the registrar's office in view.

Middletown – 4:20 p.m.

 Voter turnout for the special election in the 13th Senate District was very light at the city’s five polling places.

Middletown’s registrar of voters office reported 11.3 percent of the Senate district’s 8,976 registered voters in the city had cast ballots by 3 p.m. Although that was a rise from the 7.1 percent turnout reported at 1 p.m., it was still well below a typical showing, which for a municipal election in the city hovers at around 40 percent.

“These kinds of special elections always have a low, low turnout,” said Laura Gionfriddo, moderator for 12th polling district at Bielefield School. “It’s very quiet here.”

Wesley School, the polling place for the city’s ninth district, reported the highest turnout with 15 percent of the district’s 1,600 registered voters casting ballots.

At South District firehouse, the polling place for the city’s 10th voting district, moderator Sally Milardo reported an 11 percent turnout by 2:15 p.m.

Bill Wilson, the assistant moderator at Snow School, said, “I think a lot of people weren’t aware there was an election -- despite all the advertising.”

Ted Stein knew. A voter in the 10th district and a member of the city’s ethics board, Stein said he voted for the Democrat, Tom Breunn. “I think the way to solve the problem is not by cutting taxes. It’s to get more efficient,” he said.

“We’ve got to get our taxes down. But you don’t do that by taking a machete and chopping off taxes.”

At Farm Hill School, Cathy Lechowicz said she also voted for Breunn. Asked if she, like Breunn, supported a tax hike for the state’s wealthiest citizens, she said, “I think we need to look at all the options; I think we need to look at revenue and smart spending.”

Meriden – 4:14 p.m.

At 3 p.m. Len Suzio was buzzing around his storefront headquarters at 1265 East Main St. talking with volunteers and campaign staffers, including 9-year-old Mark Comia. The Roger Sherman student and his father were apparently the first to tell Suzio about Thomas Gaffey’s resignation in early January. According to Suzio, that day they rang his doorbell, held out a “Suzio” sign from his Nov. 2010 election and asked if he was running.

Suzio told Patch he spent Tuesday morning talking to people at local McDonalds and Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in Middletown with the city’s mayor, Sebastian Giuliano. He said he was encouraged by the people he met – a number of whom he said were retired union workers who were disheartened by the public employee unions’ battle against the state government in Wisconsin over negotiating pensions and healthcare benefits that’s caused Democratic legislators to flee that state.

“There’s a huge awakening going on in the country right now,” he said. “All these guys were union people who were like ‘we’ve got to get real about all this stuff’”

Suzio said he believes the nation’s fiscal crisis and Governor Dannel Malloy’s recent budget proposal could help him win in District 13’s historically Democratic stronghold.

“The dirty secret up in Hartford is that the it’s the middle class that’s going to get socked with any tax increase,” Suzio said. “If I’m elected tonight, it’ll be a shot heard ‘round Connecticut,” he said.

Until results start pouring in at 8 p.m., Suzio said he will go back and forth between his headquarters and other sites in the district. He won’t likely head to the polls -- according to him, the people there have already decided who they’re going to vote for. The task is getting everyone else to the ballot box.

Middlefield - 3:45 p.m.

By Tuesday afternoon voter turnout in Middlefield was "slow," according to moderator Barbara Rowe who directed voters to polling booths inside the town's Community Center.

455 out of Middlefield's 3,155 registered voters had visited the polls as of 3 p.m., or 14.5 percent.

Rowe said the numbers were on par with school referendums, adding "we might get a few more voters when people get out of work."

Meriden – 1:14 p.m.

On a routine monitoring tour of special election sites throughout Connecticut today, Deputy Secretary of the State James Spallone visited the registrar’s office at Meriden City Hall around noon to discuss election issues the town might be having. City registrars Maureen Flynn (D) and Lillian Soboleski (R) reported that the polls were running smoothly, and though voter turnout for this special election was lower than that of a general election, it was on par with previous special elections and primaries.

Spallone was filling in for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill who was out of the office with the flu. In addition to Meriden, he will visit registrar’s offices in New Britain and Bridgeport. According to Spallone there have been few issues reported thus far in the 18 Connecticut towns in which special elections are being held today.

“People seem very prepared,” he said. His office is working with the State Elections Enforcement Commission and the two agencies are hosting a hotline for voters to call if they experience problems at the polls at 1-866-733-2463.

Spallone added that much like Meriden’s voter turnout, registrars throughout the state were reporting low numbers at the polls  – typical for a special election, but he still urged local voters to come out.

“The stakes are high – the state’s facing a fiscal crisis and the folks that will be elected today will help determine the course of the state for the months and years ahead,” he said.  “I hope voters take that responsibility to heart and come out and vote for the candidate of their choice.”

Meriden – 10:53 a.m.

About 82 voters had visited the polls at Washington Middle School by 10 a.m. Tuesday. This site is housing two precincts for the special election – both its usual Precinct 4 voters and those from Precinct 5 who normally cast their ballots at the Sherman Avenue firehouse. A Feb. 6 roof collapse at the fire station forced a change of venue.

Precinct 5 moderator Frank Burbidge said that traffic for his polls had been light – only about 22 people had shown up by mid-morning. But he said he doesn’t attribute that to the change in venue, as the switch was publicized in local media and signs at the fire house clearly said voting had been moved to the school. “I think at noon time it’ll pick up, and at supper time, it’ll pick up,” Burbidge said. 

“It’s a good, steady turnout,” Barbara Shoneck, moderator of Precinct 4 said for her voters. About 60 residents had cast ballots in her precinct by 10 a.m. this morning. 

Few voters trickled in to the school between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Meriden Patch polled 10 people for their votes as they exited. Of the 10, five were unwilling to say how they voted, three voted for Suzio and two for Bruenn.

Carol Radzunas, a 30-year Meriden resident, is a registered Republican and voted for Suzio.

“I’m one of those people who feels like they’re being taxed to death,” she said.

Original Story - 7 a.m.

District 13 voters will head to the polls today to decide which Meriden Board of Education veteran - Republican Len Suzio or Democrat Thomas Bruenn - will be their next state senator.

From 6 a.m to 8 p.m. polling stations will be open in Middlefield, Meriden, and parts of Middletown and Cheshire for voters to cast their ballots in a special election to fill the seat vacated by 16-year-state senator Thomas Gaffey (D-Meriden). 

The two-year post has been open for nearly two months since Gaffey, 51, announced he would not swear in Jan. 5, 2011 with the rest of the state's government. The newly re-elected state senator instead pleaded guilty that day to six counts of misdemeanor larceny for double-billing his political action committee and the state legislature for approximately $2,500 in expenses.

Since Gaffey's departure, both parties have scrambled to select candidates and get them campaigning in time for a Feb. 22nd special election.

Republicans made a familiar choice in backing Suzio, a 63-year-old Meriden businessman who just ran and lost against Gaffey in November's general election – and two times before, in 1998 and 1996. Suzio heads a banking and finance tool company called GeoDataVision and served on Meriden's Board of Education for 14 years, departing in 2009. In the last election he netted 13,238 votes to Gaffey's 18,360.

Suzio and other local Republicans said they believe that the unique nature of a special election could grant him enough votes to win in this Democratic stronghold. In this election voters are coming in solely to cast ballots for the state senate office – not coming in to vote for a marquee office like governor or president and then selecting other candidates merely by party line.

Democrats believe they have a great shot at the seat by running Bruenn, 71, who was the highest vote-getter when running for Meriden's Board of Education in 2007, local party officials say. Bruenn was a math teacher at Platt High School in Meriden for 37 years and a long-time head of the town's teacher's union before retiring in 1998.

Since the two men overlapped at the Board of Education for two years, Bruenn and Suzio know each other and the campaign has been mostly cordial.

In fact, the two agreed on most topics at the election's held last week. They differed on issues of health care and Gov. Dannel Malloy's new budget proposal. 

Bruenn is a supporter of SustiNet, a state-run public insurance program, but Suzio said in the Feb. 16 debate he has "serious reservations" about it. Both candidates took issue with Malloy's budget – Bruenn said he believed the tax burden should have been shifted toward the rich and not the middle class, and Suzio said spending cuts, not tax increases, were the best ways to deal with the state's gaping financial deficit.

Voters in search of polling places and registration status can find information on the state's election website at www.sots.ct.gov. According to Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, voters are also encouraged to contact the secretary's office at 1-866-SEEC-INFO if they have issues at the polls.

Stay tuned - Patch will be bringing updates on the election from the four District 13 towns throughout the day today.