Voter Turnout in Meriden is Slow, But Steady, on Primary Day

As candidates push to get last-minute Democrats and Republicans to vote across the state in today’s primary, the turnout in Meriden already looks to be pretty low as of Tuesday morning.

Patch visited a few locations in the city between 11 a.m. and noon, and none of the venues had voter turnouts higher than 120 votes.

But poll moderators at each location noted that it was still early in the day. They said that while there usually is a steady turnout early in the morning, it often slows down by mid-morning. Then things pick up again after 5 p.m. when most people get out of work.

At Immanuel Lutheran Church the turnout was the highest of the locations we visited, receiving 118 voters by 11:45 a.m. At John Barry School the turnout was 90 votes around 11: 15 a.m., while at the same time St. Rose Community Center only saw 40 votes, moderators said.

But Maureen Flynn, Democratic registrar, said that while voting may be slow, it seems as if there has been a steady flow of residents going to the polls today. Flynn said her office has been fielding calls this morning from registered voters trying to figure out which polling place they should go to, .

The polls close at 8 p.m.

Ultimately, though, Flynn acknowledged that the turnout likely won’t be too great, and not as high as a presidential election.

More Democrats have voted than Republicans, a fact that's not too surprising since Democratic candidate Chris Donovan is from here. That, and there are more registered Democrats in Meriden than registered Republicans.

Meanwhile, candidates and their campaigns are still on the road to get the vote out. Elizabeth Esty, a Fifth District candidate from Cheshire, , while Senate candidate Sysan Bysiewicz before going on a tour from Montville to Enfield.

At Donovan’s campaign headquarters on Colony Street, volunteers continuously worked the phones to reach out to voters. Donovan spokesman Gabe Rosenberg told Patch the campaign has roughly 500 volunteers working today across all of the campaign field offices and the whole Fifth District.

Meriden Patch will provide updates later today as the votes come in. Follow us here, on our Facebook page or on our Twitter account.

Ronald DeRosa is an associate regional editor for Patch.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @SECTPatch.