Voter turnout in Bridgeport for the November general election that featured the race for governor was 37.47 percent, according to Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merill, ranking voter interest in the state’s most populous city fourth to last statewide among municipalities. For voting futility Hartford, 32.18 percent, was at the bottom. Waterbury 36.64 percent and New London 36.32 percent lagged behind Bridgeport. New Haven was just ahead of Bridgeport, 38.30 percent. Turnout in Bridgeport last month was a few percentage points higher than the 2010 general election for governor.
Merrill on Wednesday released the final, comprehensive voter turnout figures from the 2014 general election showing that 55.57 percent of registered voters in Connecticut cast ballots on November 4.
Cornwall, 74.77 percent, led the state in percentage turnout. Merrill reports 13,995 new voters in Connecticut were able to cast ballots using Election Day Registration, representing 1.3 percent of the total votes cast in 2014, the first statewide, non-municipal election since Election Day Registration was enacted in Connecticut.
“Overall we had a very healthy and respectable voter turnout of just about 56% of registered voters in Connecticut,” said Merrill, Connecticut’s chief elections official. “Once again we saw strong voter turnout in our small towns, while the cities continue to lag behind. Election Day problems in Hartford may have had a depressing impact on voter turnout in that city, which is truly unfortunate. One thing I am very proud of is the large number of new voters–nearly 14,000–who were able to participate in democracy due to Election Day Registration.”
Top 20 town turnout
Cornwall 74.77%
Guilford 71.16%
Litchfield 70.31%
Goshen 70.26%
New Hartford 70.23%
Hampton 70.08%
Old Lyme 69.95%
Franklin 69.84%
Columbia 69.75%
Salem 69.70%
Essex 69.62%
Glastonbury 68.96%
Portland 68.85%
Sharon 68.55%
Bethlehem 68.52%
East Lyme 68.44%
Roxbury 68.42%
Prospect 68.25%
Marlborough 68.19%
Killingworth 68.18%
With the candidate choice, the ability to choose candidates, a very corrupt and dishonest registrar of voters, and the absentee ballots deciding the outcome, why would any sane person expect people whose jobs are dependent on the outcome to vote?
Percent turnout is not relevant.
What is important is the margin of victory over your opponent in a community in a statewide election.
The Bridgeport Democratic Party goal–at least in the old days–was to come out of the city about 10,000 to 12,000 votes ahead of the Republicans.
They did that this last time.
Only do-gooders would insist on higher participation.
Real politicians want to win.
They did.
Barf. Percentage turnout is relevant. “Real politicians” (campaign strategists) work off percentage turnout to achieve goals. Raw turnout no longer is the standard. In the “old days,” Bridgeport was among the highest turnout areas of the state. No more. Today everything is broken down into segments, thus percentages carry the down.