Dems Line Up To Vote Early

(Updated) Seventy-eight New Haveners began to get used to a new way of voting Tuesday.

The new way is ​“early voting”: Polls open for days before an official election date.

Registered Democrats and Republicans citywide are able to come to a single location — the basement of 200 Orange St. — to cast early ballots for next Tuesday’s presidential preference primaries. (On Tuesday they can go to their regular ward voting places.) The polls are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

People started lining up at 9:30 a.m. to vote Tuesday morning.

That caught elections officials by surprise. Initial voters, like Orange Street resident Qadry Harris and Ward 7 Democratic Co-Chair Christine Kim, said they weren’t quite sure which of the half-dozen tables arrayed in the subterranean public meeting room to approach to cast ballots. At first some of the workers were a bit confused too.

Harris said he had come out because he expected a ​“smoother, faster” voting experience. It ended up taking 20 minutes.

Kim, who plans to be out of town next Tuesday, said she noted the absence of ​“I voted” stickers. A roll was soon brought down.

“I think we need to do a better job telling people how it all works,” she said.

Head moderator Kevin Arnold said 20 people voted in the Democratic primary within the first 40 minutes or so. Among them was U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro.

By day’s end, 75 Democrats and three Republicans had cast ballots.

“It’s a learning curve. It’s a new process for everyone, for the voters as well as for the workers,” he said at 10:45 a.m., as voters were indeed coming in and immediately casting ballots. ​“We’re getting the hang of it. We’re getting quicker.” 

For this voter, the process took all of 3 minutes. One thing I learned: Don’t try to lick the envelope before turning it in. It’s ​“peel and seal.”

No Republicans showed up to vote in the first 50 minutes. Presumed nominee Donald Trump may not have been racking up votes yet at 200 Orange that first part of the morning, but he was scoring big — in the billions — in the stock market.

Ward 7 Alder Eli Sabin cast a ballot for Joe Biden. ​“The president’s doing a good job,” he said.

Moderator Arnold noted that the early voting system is more like absentee voting than like a traditional in-person Election Day ballots. Voters have three extra steps to go through before dropping their ballots in the lock box: First employees check ID, then they are checked off as registered voters, and finally a deputy registrar logs the ballots before voters drop them in the slot. The entire process takes about three minutes.

Arnold added that voters can register to vote and then cast an early ballot the next day.

One voter, city transit department worker Velisha Cloud, said she thought the new process worked like ​“a piece of cake.” The extra days make life easier for voters, she said. She declined to say for whom she voted.