The secretary of the state predicted there will be a light turnout for Tuesday's primary to decide whom the Connecticut Republicans will choose to challenge Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in November.
On Monday, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill predicted that 25 percent to 30 percent of registered voters, at most, will show up at the polls.
"I don't think we'll even get as high as 30 percent," she said, adding how turnout figures for primaries tend to depend on the race and not necessarily the time of year.
The marquee race this year is for the Republican nomination for governor, between businessman Tom Foley, of Greenwich, and Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, of Fairfield. Republicans also will choose their nominees for lieutenant governor and comptroller.
In Danbury, registered Democrats will be deciding who they want to be the Registrar of Voters candidate in November. The decision is between Danbury Democratic Town Committee endorsed candidate Susan Ward and incumbent Marge Gallo.
There area few polling location changes. In Newtown, District 1 and 1-5 will be joining District 2 in voting at Reed Intermediate School. In Brookfield, District 2 will be voting at the Brookfield High School cafeteria instead of the gym.
As of the end of July, Merrill said, there were about 400,000 registered Republicans in Connecticut, 700,000 registered Democrats and 800,000 unaffiliated voters. Primary voters must be registered with one of the two major political parties to participate on Tuesday.
Merrill said she has not seen a last-minute rush of unaffiliated voters trying to register with a party.
While Merrill said she doesn't expect any problems, she also said her office will be working with the State Elections Enforcement Commission to operate an election hotline that can respond to potential issues at the polls, which will be open Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Concerns can be reported by calling 866-SEEC-INFO or by sending an email to elections(at)ct.gov. The hotline and the email address will be monitored throughout the day.
Meanwhile, voters can go online to http://www.sots.ct.gov/vote to determine whether they're registered to vote, where their polling places are located, which candidates are on the ballot and the type of identification they need to take to the polls.
