Nearly 57% of votes cast in Connecticut primary were absentee ballots; more Democrats than Republicans choose mail-in voting

© Photo Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com/Hartford Courant/TNS Marianne Neptin drops her ballot off in the ballot box outside of West Hartford Town Hall on Connecticut's primary election day Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020, in West Hartford.

Looking ahead to November, many believe absentee voting will fall along party lines. Now, there are numbers in Connecticut to prove it.

More than 62% of Connecticut Democrats who participated in Tuesday’s primary election voted via absentee ballot, compared with only 41% of Republican voters, according to unofficial numbers made available Friday by Secretary of State Denise Merrill, with 166 out of 169 towns reporting.

The percentages reflect Democratic and Republican voters who selected a preference for a presidential candidate; total primary participation, including congressional and legislative races, likely won’t be available until Saturday, said Gabe Rosenberg, a spokesman for Merrill.

© Photo Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com/Hartford Courant/TNS Krystal Chamberlain puts on a new glove before helping a resident check-in to vote during Connecticut's primary election at the Bloomfield Recreational Center Leisure Gym Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020, in Bloomfield.

Overall, nearly 57% of the total votes cast in the state were absentee ballots, with the remaining 43% representing in-person voters. (Democrats outnumbered Republican voters by nearly 3-to-1.)

© Photo Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com/Hartford Courant/TNS A resident votes during Connecticut's primary election day at the Bloomfield Recreational Center Leisure Gym Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020, in Bloomfield.

About 1% of absentee ballots received across Connecticut towns were rejected and not included in the final vote tally, most likely because an inner envelope was not returned or signed, Rosenberg added.

For both parties, turnout was low — 29% for Democrats and 20% for Republicans — which is typical in a primary, but also unsurprising for a late-summer election with an incumbent president running for reelection and a Democratic contest that’s essentially wrapped up.

© Photo Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com/Hartford Courant/TNS Poll workers sit with face masks and face shields behind plastic barriers at Annie Fisher Montessori Magnet School Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020, in Hartford.

Gov. Ned Lamont had issued an executive order expanding the state’s strict absentee ballot regulations to allow primary voters to cite the pandemic as a reason for requesting one. And Merrill used federal funds to mail absentee ballot applications to 1.2 million registered Republicans and Democrats. Lawmakers voted to extend that same provision to the November election and Merrill has said she hopes to once again send out the ballot applications.

© Photo Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com/Hartford Courant/TNS Chad Chisholm checks in before taking the time to vote during Connecticut's primary day election at Annie Fisher Montessori Magnet School Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020, in Hartford.

There were few political upsets Tuesday, with incumbent candidates prevailing in legislative races, former Vice President Joe Biden winning the Democratic presidential primary and President Donald Trump victorious in the GOP primary.

In the 22nd Senate District, which includes Trumbull, Bridgeport and Monroe, three-term state Sen. Marilyn Moore defeated 29-year-old Bridgeport City Councilman Marcus Brown, who won the Democratic party endorsement in May. Brown conceded Thursday in a written statement.

Still, fearing infection from the coronavirus, and with the election taking place a week after a major tropical storm, voters cast a record-breaking number of absentee ballots, resulting in some reporting delays and providing a glimpse of what’s to come in November.

“We don’t really have a frame of reference to know how many people will choose to use [an] absentee ballot” in November, Rosenberg said. “What we do know is that turnout will be very high and there will be a record number of absentee ballots cast by a factor of 10, because what’s clear is that voters really want this option.”

© Photo Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com/Hartford Courant/TNS Social distancing markers on the floor at Conard High School polling location, in order to control crowds if a line presents during Connecticut's primary election day Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020, in West Hartford.

Michael Hamad can be reached at mhamad@courant.com.

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Hartford, CT - 8/11/20 - Michael Downes votes in the primary election at the Parker Memorial Community Center in Hartford Tuesday evening

© Photo Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com/Hartford Courant/TNS