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At Western Greenwich Civic Center on Tuesday morning, the polling center for residents living in Districts 9, 10 and 10A, police directed a busy stream of traffic as voters bustled in and out, casting their votes for governor, attorney general, U.S. Senate and other seats.
Bob Richardson, a member of Greenwich's Republican Town Committee, was set up outside, offering cookies, coffee, doughnuts, cider and Halloween candy in bags sporting the name of L. Scott Frantz, the 36th House District representative up for re-election.
"I think there's been very heavy turnout today," Richardson said. "There was a rush from 7 to 8:30, then again at 10, and it's been steady in between. People are constantly coming and going."
Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said Monday she expected voter turnout in Connecticut to be about 60 percent of registered voters, a number Fred DeCaro III, the town's Republican registrar of voters, said was typical of mid-term elections. "I think generally the rule of thumb for turnout in elections is 40 percent for municipal, 60 percent for state and 80 percent for presidential," DeCaro said.
By 11 a.m., released figures showed 7,900, or 23 percent of the town's 34,586 registered voters had gone out to the polls. "It's hard to determine what you see for a few hours in judging the entire count," said DeCaro. "Historically, midday turnout is weather dependent, but overall turnout remains pretty steady year to year."
When asked, Greenwich resident Tricia Solari said she was voting because she doesn't like how the country is being handled politically and wants to get back to what she believes America is about. "That means being fiscally conservative and being good for everyone," said Solari. "I don't want to be penalized for working hard. The work ethic in this country has to come back."
Another voter, who declined to give her name, said she was happy voter turnout seemed high. "I'm delighted. It means everybody cares what's going on," she said.
Voter turnout results will be updated as the day continues.
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