Darien native Chris Shays votes in Bridgeport Tuesday morning. (Darien Times/David DesRoches photo)
UPDATE 7:41 p.m. — As polls wind down to a close, turnout in Darien continues to stay low in Tuesday’s primary.
As of 7 p.m. 1,643 town Republicans and 331 Democrats showed up to cast their votes.
That is 27% of registered Republicans and 14% of town Democrats. Polls close at 8.
Tuesday 3 p.m. — Republicans continue to out-number Democrats in voting in Tuesday’s U.S. Senate primary, fitting in with Darien’s ratio of registered voters in both parties.
Polls opened throughout the state at 6 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m. Earlier today, the town’s Registrar of Voters office said 515 Republicans had turned out to vote compared with 101 Democrats.
As of 2 p.m., 824 Republicans had turned out to vote compared with 181 Democrats. There are currently 6,034 Republicans registered in town and 2,318 Democrats.
There was no absentee ballot count available as of 2:30 because they were still coming in, according to the registrar’s office.
That’s about 14% of registered Republicans and 8% of registered Democrats turning out to vote.
Linda McMahon and U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy are heavy favorites to capture the Republican and Democratic nominations for the U.S. Senate seat being opened by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Ct.)’s retirement.
Linda McMahon voted in her hometown of Greenwich Tuesday afternoon (Hersam Acorn/Ken Borsuk photo)
Polls of the race show Murphy with a sizable lead over his Democratic challenger, former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.
A poll released recently by Public Policy Polling (PPP) had him with a 17 point advantage and that is an improvement over a June Quinnipiac poll that had Murphy with a 30 point lead on Bysiewicz.
But that’s nothing compared to the advantage McMahon possesses in her Republican primary against former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, who represented the fourth district for 21 years until 2008.
The PPP poll had her with a staggering 48 point advantage heading into the primary. McMahon easily won her primary for the Senate in 2010 as well only to fall short against Democrat Richard Blumenthal in November.
The PPP poll also gives Mr. Murphy an eight point lead in their prospective showdown in November.
Check back in with The Darien Times online for updates and primary results throughout Tuesday afternoon and night.
