More than 1,000 people have early-voted in New Canaan as of Tuesday afternoon, officials say. In all, about 6,800 people voted in the 2023 local election.
New Canaan’s two Registrars of Voters are overseeing early voting at Town Hall, with tables and voting booths set up in the main lobby on the main floor.
“I’m going to call it ‘steady,’ ” Republican Registrar Joan McLaughlin said. “We’ve gotten an average of about 130 to 140 ballots per day. It’s very manageable.”
Early voting started Oct. 20 and will continue Thursday (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) and will continue Friday, Saturday and Sunday (both 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.).
This year, New Canaan voters will decide contested races for the Board of Education and Town Council. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Liz Orteig, the Democratic Registrar, said “things are going quite well” and “pretty smoothly” at Town Hall.
“Some days we have few people, some days we have a lot of people—it varies,” she said.
Common questions from those taking advantage of early voting are about the mechanics of where booths are and where ballots go. The town has a system like “an assembly line,” Orteig said, where members of the electorate check in at a long table, then receive their ballot and move down the hallway to vote.
Asked for her message to residents, Orteig said, “We would really like people to come in and early-vote, because it makes things easier for us on Election Day.”
It’s been great meeting voters over the past 9 days! I’ve really enjoyed talking to them and am especially impressed with the voters’ knowledge of the RTC, led by Nick Williams (rtc election chair), the Gang of Four, and the NC GOP led by Jonathan Cheng and Chris Wilson two recent and former RTC Chairs, not supporting my candidacy and trying to erase my existence on the ballot. Yesterday a NC GOP misleading town wide mailer went out showing only the Republican “Gang of Four” on the ballot for the Town Council race. Over the weekend a combined RTC/NC GOP town wide mailer went out with ALL Republicans running for office listed, most uncontested, and any mention of me was omitted. As someone committed to transparency and fairness, please be aware I AM listed on the ballot – saving the best for last you’ll see my name- Kimberly Norton. Thank you New Canaan for supporting me and for your comments rejecting these unkind and sketchy tactics. I’m just a Mom who’s raised four kids here, with a PHD and a perfect Town Council attendance record, who is an incumbent running for re-election. Let’s raise the bar for town politics. To the “Gang” and their handlers, try your best to win fair and square, not this way. We teach our children these values so why not be the role models they deserve? Your tactics are insulting to voters who deserve choices not pre-ordained party selected candidates selected to rubber stamp town budgets and other pressing proposals.