Early Voting Kicks Off Tuesday

New Haveners can start casting early ballots in person (but not for very long) next week for the first time — even if this particular vote might not have much at stake.

The election is a Democratic and a Republican presidential primary. Officially the primary takes place April 2. But Connecticut is embarking on a newly approved plan to allow some days of early voting, which begins next Tuesday.

One catch: Some of the candidates whose names will appear on the ballots for Republicans and Democrats alike have already dropped out of the race. 

This year’s presidential preference primary in New Haven turns out to be more of a test run for a general election rematch in November between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, and for how early voting itself works, than as a substantive political contest.

As detailed during a Friday afternoon press conference hosted by Mayor Justin Elicker, Democratic Registrar of Voters Shannel Evans, and Republican Registrar of Voters Marlene Napolitano in the groundfloor meeting room at 200 Orange St., registered voters across Connecticut will be able to vote early in person for the first time ever for the April 2 presidential preference primaries. That’s thanks to Connecticut voters’ approval in 2022 of a state constitutional amendment designed to make voting less of a hassle than making it to the polls on a random Tuesday.

Here’s what that means for New Haven voters this spring:

Between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26; Wednesday, March 27; Thursday, March 28; and Saturday, March 30, registered Democratic and Republican voters can cast their ballots in this year’s presidential preference primaries at New Haven’s single in-person early voting location in the groundfloor meeting room at 200 Orange St. (The four days of early voting allowed for during the April 2 presidential preference primary in Connecticut will expand to seven days for the Aug. 13 primary election and 14 days for the Nov. 5 general election.)

There will be roughly 10 parking spots nearby 200 Orange reserved on those days for early voting electors, free of charge.

Registered voters can also, of course, cast their ballots on preference primary election day itself, on Tuesday, April 2, between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. at their normal neighborhood polling place. 

The last day to register to vote early at the registrar’s office on the second floor of 200 Orange St. is noon on Monday, March 25, and noon on Monday, April 1, if you want to vote on preference primary election day itself.

Click here to check if you are registered to vote and to find out where your election day polling place is. Again, the only in-person polling place for those looking to vote early in New Haven is 200 Orange St., meeting room G2.

Evans said that New Haveners who vote early during this year’s presidential preference primary will come to 200 Orange St., fill out their ballot, and put that ballot in a ​“tabulator box,” but not a tabulator itself. All of the early voting-cast ballots will then be counted on primary election day on April 2.

As always, eligible voters can also vote via absentee ballot this year. Click here to read the rules governing who can vote absentee and why in Connecticut.

This is an ​“important historic election,” Elicker said at Friday’s presser. ​“No matter who you vote for, it’s important to cast your vote.” 

Which raises the question: Whose names will appear on this year’s presidential preference primary ballots?

On the Democratic ballot will appear the names Marianne Williamson, Dean Phillips, Cenk Uygur, Joe Biden, and Uncommitted.

On the Republican ballot will appear the names Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Donald J. Trump, Ryan Binkley, and Uncommitted.

Wait a minute. Haven’t Williamson, Phillips, DeSantis, and Haley all already dropped out of the 2024 presidential contest?

They have. But they were still running for their respective parties’ presidential nomination by Jan. 19, which was the deadline by which Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas had to decide which candidates should appear on the April 2 ballot. State law requires the secretary of the state to make such a determination by looking at which presidential primary candidates are ​“generally and seriously advocated or recognized by reports in the national or state news media” at that time. Weird.

Elicker recognized on Friday that this year’s presidential preference primaries in Connecticut are not ​“hotly contested.” Instead, they’re ​“a little bit of a test run for the general election,” when Democratic incumbent Biden and Republican challenger Trump will almost certainly be their respective parties’ nominees.

New Haveners should nevertheless come out and vote during the April 2 presidential preference primary ‚ including by voting early if they so choose — because voting is a hard-won right that should not be taken for granted. It is one’s ​“responsibility and duty to come out and vote,” he said.

Plus, voting is fun. You run into friends when voting, as you participate in a bedrock of civic life in this city, he said.

And ​“people in this state look at New Haven to see how much turnout there is.” A large voting turnout in New Haven in any election, April 2’s included, ​“gives us more of a voice.”

Elicker was asked for his thoughts on the state-by-state push among some Democrats to vote ​“Uncommitted” during the primaries to signal their opposition to President Biden’s military support for Israel during its ongoing war in Gaza. He said he will be voting for Biden during this presidential preference primary because he believes the sitting president is ​“by far the best choice” on the ballot. He urged New Haveners not to use the primary to ​“register a protest vote,” but instead to coalesce behind the candidate who will almost certainly be the Democrat on the ballot in November. ​“The consequences if we do not elect President Biden” in November in his expected rematch against Trump, Elicker said, ​“would be disastrous.”

Nevertheless, Elicker conceded, it can be a bit confusing looking at the names on this year’s presidential preference primary ballot. After all, on the Democratic side, Williamson and Phillips have already dropped out. And who in the world is Cenk Uygur?