HARTFORD – More than 2.2 million voters are registered to vote in local elections for numerous municipal offices across Connecticut on Nov. 4.
If voter turnout patterns hold, roughly one-third of eligible voters can be expected to cast ballots statewide, with smaller towns recording among the highest voting percentages and the biggest cities having among the lowest turnout rates.
Elections will be conducted in 168 of the state’s 169 cities and towns on Tuesday. The small town of Union had its election May. Just 12% of the 655 eligible Union voters turned out, according to the secretary of the state’s office.
The number of local offices that appear on a ballot vary by town and city. Sample town ballots are available on the secretary of the state’s website.
Voters generally turn out in the greatest numbers for presidential elections, followed by state elections, but voter participation is lowest for local elections, even though local government is closest to voters and arguably has more direct effect on their lives and communities than the federal and state governments.
The statewide turnout for the presidential, congressional and General Assembly elections in 2024 was 76%. It was 57.6% for the gubernatorial, congressional and statehouse elections in 2022. The municipal elections sandwiched between those two statewide elections in 2023 drew out 33.7% of eligible voters, though turnout rates ranged from 13.7% in the capital city of Hartford to 63.2% in the small Litchfield County town of Canaan.
Local elections do not excite voters in the same way as a presidential election, a hotly contested mid-term congressional election or an open gubernatorial election, but turnout on the local level often reflects voter interest in a given election year, said Laura Smits, co-president of the Connecticut League of Women Voters.
If there is a hot-button ballot question, a competitive race for mayor or first selectman, or an issue of local controversy over a development project or a policy issue, these are factors that can generate higher levels of voter interest and drive up local turnout, she said.
One new wrinkle for turnout prognostication is the advent of early voting in local elections. Two weeks of early in-person voting started on Oct. 20 and ends Sunday, two days before Election Day.
“It seems pretty popular. People seem to be wanting to vote early and taking advantage of it, which I think is great,” said Smits, a former registrar of voters in Weston and currently a certified election moderator for the city of Norwalk. “The more options people have, the more likely they are to turn out to vote. I think it is going to be interesting to see if it has any impact on local turnout because local turnout has been pretty dismal.”
The state legislature and Gov. Ned Lamont approved an early voting law in the 2023 legislative session after voters overwhelming approved a constitutional amendment in 2022 to allow this voting option in Connecticut.
Early in-person voting had its debut in the presidential preference primaries in April 2024, followed by the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in August 2024, and then the presidential election last Nov. 5 when 40% of voters cast their ballots that way. The 2025 municipal elections are the first local elections for early in-person voting.
Connecticut law authorizes 14 days of in-person early voting for general elections, seven days for primary contests, and four days each for special elections and presidential preference primaries. Referendums are excluded.
Voters in Union had the first opportunity to vote early in person because of the town’s spring election. Eight of the 79 Union voters who cast ballots on May 5 took advantage of the early voting option. All of their ballots were properly filled out and counted. Two absentee ballots were cast and counted, too.
Through Monday, the secretary of the state’s office reported 83,425 early in-person ballots had been cast, including 42,122 by Democratic voters, 17,879 by Republican voters, 1,015 by voters enrolled in other political parties, and 22,409 by unaffiliated voters.
The secretary of the state’s office cautioned that these early voting numbers do not represent final or official election results. Totals may change as verification by local election officials continues.
The following 10 towns had the most early ballots cast through Monday:
Smits said one of the pluses for early voting is that is easier than voting by absentee ballot.
Through Monday, the secretary of the state’s office reported 14,813 absentee ballots had been returned, including 7,652 by Democratic voters, 3,204 by Republican voters, 162 by voters enrolled in other political parties, and 3,795 by unaffiliated voters. Approximately 26,479 absentee ballots had been mailed.
While the legislature and Lamont eased the rules for absentee voting in recent years, voters must still cite one of six legally recognized excuses to receive and cast an absentee ballot: Illness, disability, military service, religious tenets, personal availability on Election Day, and service as an election official or worker.
State voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2024 that allows the legislature to remove all restrictions on absentee voting in Connecticut. But lawmakers did not approve a no-excuse absentee voting law in the 2025 legislative session.
A constitutional amendment was necessary to authorize both early voting and no-excuse absentee voting because voting times and methods are spelled out both in state statute and the state Constitution. This unusual arrangement requires voters approve a constitutional change before the legislature can change voting laws.
In terms of partisan enrollment, registered Democrats continue to well outnumber registered Republicans statewide on the voter rolls, but the largest group of voters are unaffiliated with any political party.
The pre-election deadline for online, mail-in, and in-person voter registrations was Oct. 17. There were 792,887 registered Democratic voters by that cutoff date, 489,205 registered Republican voters, and 34,030 voters registered in other political parties. There were 935,892 unaffiliated voters signed up at that time.
The number of new voters who registered since Jan. 1 was approaching 100,000 in early October, according to the secretary of the state’s office.
Overall Republican pre-election enrollment is up nearly 29,120 from the 2023 total, but only up roughly 1,860 from the presidential election last year. The number of GOP voters increased by approximately 27,250 between the 2023 municipal election and the 2024 election.
Total Democratic registrations slipped by 7,600 from two years ago and declined by 29,600 last year. There were 822,499 active Democratic voters in 2024.
The number of active unaffiliated voters is up by 15,285 from two years ago, but down by 21,890 compared to the 2024 presidential election.
There were also nearly 250,480 inactive voters who could potentially be eligible to vote Nov. 4. A voter is moved to an inactive list after they have not voted in four years and do not respond to a mailed address confirmation card from election officials. If a voter is on the inactive list, they must fill out a new voter registration form under penalty of false statement in order to vote.
If a voter on the inactive list shows up at their polling place on Election Day, they must fill out a new voter registration form before they are added to the active list and allowed to vote. If a voter on the inactive list returns an absentee ballot application, they must first return a new voter registration form before they are mailed an absentee ballot.
After four years on the inactive list, if the voter has not done anything that resulted in them filling out a new voter registration form and being restored to the active list, the voter is removed from the voter registry.
This article originally published at With early voting underway, Connecticut officials hope to reverse ‘dismal’ turnout trends.
