Primary Nears; Connecticut Registers 45,000 New Voters

Any Connecticut resident who wants to vote in the Aug. 14 primary has one more month to register as either a Democrat or a Republican, says Secretary of the State Denise Merrill in a prepared statement issued Friday.

Voters must register with a specific party to vote in a primary.

Since Jan. 1, 45,000 people have registered as new voters in Connecticut. Of that number, 13,851 registered as Democrats, 9,256 registered as Republicans and 21,091 registered as unaffiliated voters.

Fewer people have registered to vote by this year compared to this time in 2008 — the last time there was a presidential election, Merrill said.

Merrill says that more than 100,000 new voters had registered to vote by July 20, 2008.

Overall, Connecticut currently has about 1.9 million active voters. There are 720,161 Democrats, 411,062 Republicans and 817,432 unaffiliated voters.

Voter registration cards must be received by local registrar of voters by Aug. 9 for anyone who wants to participate in the primary and is planning to register by mail. Registering to vote in person at town offices must be done by Aug. 13 at noon.

The same deadlines apply to unaffiliated voters who want to register with a major party and vote in the primary.