Early Voting by the Numbers: 505,973 Connecticut Ballots Already In

More than half a million Connecticut ballots were already cast before Election Day. The Secretary of the State's final early-voting release, covering totals as of November 1, puts the statewide total at 505,973 votes cast through all methods, out of 2.22 million eligible voters.

In-person early voting accounts for most of it: 455,169 ballots cast over the 14-day period from October 19 through November 1. Absentee ballots add 50,804 returned ballots, out of 71,658 issued. That leaves 20,854 absentee ballots issued and not yet returned; those ballots must reach local clerks' offices or official drop boxes by 8 p.m. today to count.

By party registration, the early vote breaks down as 216,155 Democrats, 89,157 Republicans, and 149,857 unaffiliated or minor-party voters. Party registration describes who voted, not how anyone voted — ballots are secret. Another 6,469 voters registered the same day they voted early.

Two caveats travel with these numbers. The figures are preliminary, and towns report on different schedules, so the Secretary of the State revises them. And the release lists only the top 10 towns by early votes, so there is no Brookfield-specific figure in it — the story here is statewide.

Compared with the previous release, covering totals as of October 31, the final day added 37,939 early votes and 327 returned absentee ballots, lifting the all-methods total from 467,707 to 505,973. The last day of early voting, a Sunday, did much of that work.

Today's in-person voting is the last piece. Once polls close at 8 p.m., the early and absentee totals join today's ballots in the final count.