Voters are running out of time to register if they want to cast their ballots in the upcoming general election. Some voters are already out of time.
Tuesday was the registration deadline for voters in Connecticut. But if someone failed to register, the state does allow Election Day registration. Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill says during the week-long gap local registrars and clerks prepare the voter rolls. “If you’ve absolutely missed the deadline yes you can still register and vote on Election Day as a sort of failsafe really, not at the polling place but usually at city hall or town hall.”
With more than 2.1 million voters in the state Merrill expects long lines on Election Day. “We have had an incredible surge in registrations over the last month. Part of that I'm sure it's a presidential year. We always have more voters on presidential years. But I also think it is because Connecticut has just instituted online voter registration and a new streamlined voter registration at the D.M.V. for example. So I think some of these things have probably helped as well.”
In Vermont, ballots will be cast for the president, all state-level offices, the state’s only Congressional seat and one U.S. Senate seat. Vermonters must register by 5 p.m. on Wednesday and the state does not yet have same-day registration. Secretary of State Jim Condos reported that as of 11 a.m. Tuesday 465,907 people had registered, about 4,000 above 2012’s record enrollment. “We've made it easier. We have an online voter registration portal and of the people who have registered in the last year we've had 22,000 people register using our online portal. The other thing I think that has an impact frankly is the nature and competitiveness of the races. We have a hotly competitive race at the president level. We have a hot governor's race and a hot lieutenant governor's race here in Vermont. So three of the four top positions on the ballot are competitive and that helps to drive election turnout as well.”
In New York, deadlines have passed and Election Day registration and early voting are not allowed. NYS Board of Elections spokesman John Conklin notes that new voter totals were posted Tuesday. “Registrations are up. We've gone from about 10.7 million voters to about 11.4 million voters on the rolls. So there's definitely been a jump in the number of registrations in the state.”
In Massachusetts, a record number of people have registered to vote. New enrollment figures from the secretary of state's office show more than 4.5 million registered voters in the commonwealth as of Oct. 19.
Massachusetts is conducting its very first early voting until Nov. 4th.
In Vermont, early voting is technically no-excuse absentee ballots, which must be returned by 7 p.m. on November 8th – Election Day.
