Election Day 2025 Begins

PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS

For election workers and volunteers, the first Tuesday in November is the longest day of the year. Some staff had to be at their polling stations at 5am in order to be ready for opening at 6, and will be on call more or less continuously until 8pm, or even later, depending on how long it takes to tabulate the results.

For the average voter, by contrast, the time commitment is typically much less substantial. At Southington's nine stations, the wait to receive a ballot was just a few minutes, with only a few minutes more needed to mark their choices. Such hitches as did occur Tuesday were mainly due to the redrawing of voting district lines four years ago, which resulted in some residents heading to their old voting location instead of their new one.

As of noon, the official Election Day turnout was just over 4,000 voters, which would represent 12.26 percent of all registered residents. When combined with votes cast during the second half of the day, plus early and absentee votes, turnout is on track to exceed 20 percent. Broken down by voting district, the tallies and percents that the Registrar's office shared with the Outsider were as follows:

The Outsider will publish the preliminary results as soon as they are delivered to the Town Clerk's office, an hour or so after polls close at 8pm.

An election is an event that requires participation by many different people. At the office of the Registrar of Voters in the old Town Hall, Deputy Republican Registrar Eric Kratzert, shown here with Republican Registrar Tammy Thompson, was preparing to deliver sandwiches to volunteers at the nine stations in town:

At Derynoski School, Moderator Joanne Kelleher was on hand to straighten out any problems that might arise:

Out in the parking lot, Jordan Mancuso-Cermola was out promoting the Democratic candidates, while Republicans Joshua Serafino and Zachary Foti were greeting voters and promoting their own candidacies:

Then of course there were the voters - including one first-time participant, 18-year old Benjamin Krieger, seen here proudly displaying his voting sticker: