Hartford, CT - Secretary of the State Denise Merrill announced today as of 6:00 a.m. polls are now open in parts of Newington and New Britain in the 24th General Assembly District in a special election to fill a vacancy for State Representative created by the resignation of Democrat Timothy O’Brien in November of 2011. O’Brien is now serving as Mayor of New Britain. The polls will be open until 8:00 p.m. tonight. Anyone encountering problems at the polls can contact either the Secretary of the State’s office or the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) through the Election Day hotline 1-866-SEEC-INFO (1-866-733-2463) or by sending an email to elections@ct.gov. Both the hotline and the email alert will be checked throughout the day by staff from both agencies.
“The polls are now open, so it is time to go and vote,” said Secretary Merrill, Connecticut’s chief elections officer. “Important decisions are being made in Hartford that will affect all of us, so I want to make sure voters in the 24th district have a voice in who represents them in state government. Voters can not only call us but contact us through email either from home or by a mobile device should any problems arise at the polls today. We will respond to any situation as quickly as possible.”
Secretary Merrill reminds voters who do use the hotline or email to describe problems can either state their name or report issues anonymously; but are asked to state the town and polling place where they are observing the problems, and provide as many specifics or details as they can. This would greatly assist SEEC or Secretary of the State’s staff to address the issue and find a solution as expeditiously as possible. In addition to the email and telephone hotline, the Secretary of the State’s office and staff from the SEEC will hold three separate conference calls during the day on Tuesday to share information about potential problems or complaints at the polls, and coordinate the appropriate responses to those. Voters can go to the Secretary of the State’s website www.sots.ct.gov to see if they are registered to vote and where their polling place is located.
