Deadline Today For Mail-in And Online Voter Registration

From the Secretary of the State's office.
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Unaffiliated Voters can Still Enroll with a Major Party to Vote in Primary

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill today is reminding voters in 23 cities and towns that voter registration deadlines are fast approaching for municipal primaries taking place in their communities.  Registered Democrats and Republicans in those communities (listed at the bottom of this news release) will be able to go to the polls between 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. for municipal primaries on Wednesday September 16, 2015.  Eligible voters wishing to register in communities holding a primary have until tomorrow – Friday September 11th – to register by mail or online.  The final in-person deadline to register to vote in order to cast a ballot for the primaries is 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday September 15th at a voter’s local Registrar of Voters office.  Only Registered Republicans or Democrats can vote in their local party primary.  Unaffiliated voters have until that same final deadline of September 15th at noon to enroll in a major party in-person if they want to vote in the primary.


“Voter Registration deadlines are approaching very quickly for the upcoming municipal primaries this year,” said Secretary Merrill, Connecticut’s chief elections official.  “Anyone who is not yet registered to vote or is an unaffiliated voter living in one of the communities holding primaries must register online or by mail by this Friday September 11th.  The final day to register in time to vote in the primaries is next Tuesday September 15th at noon but that must be done in-person at your local Registrar of Voters office. I strongly urge anyone concerned with the future of your community to register with a party if you haven’t done so, and cast a primary ballot on Wednesday September 16th.”

The 2015 municipal primaries take place on a Wednesday this year instead of the usual Tuesday due to the occurrence of Labor Day on Monday September 7th and the coincidence of the following Tuesday with the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.  Connecticut state law prohibits a primary from taking place the day after Labor Day, and also bars a primary from taking place on a religious holiday which the tenets of a religion forbid secular activity, directing the primary to occur the following day.

Polls will open from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. for municipal primaries in 23 communities on September 16th.  Absentee ballots are now available and in order to be counted for the municipal primary, they must be received by Town Clerks’ offices no later than 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday September 16, 2015.  The majority of Connecticut’s municipalities will hold a general election for municipal candidates on November 3, 2015.  Voters can go to the Secretary of the State’s website to see if they are registered to vote and where their polling place is located.