[Updated: 6:30 p.m.] Elections 2011: Slightly Lower Turnout Making Races 'Too Close to Call'

Updated 6:30 p.m.
Who will be your newest elected officials in town this year? Well, even the candidates themselves are saying it's too close to call this year.

Republicans Albert Natelli Jr., candidate for Town Council, and Paul Champagne, candidate for Planning and Zoning Commission, said Tuesday afternoon that the turnout appears to have been affected by the storm recovery and changes to local residents' schedules and it has made it difficult to predict any outcomes.

"The lower the turnout, the more each vote matters," Natelli said. "It's made it difficult to predict any races. Really, there's just been a different feel this year altogether."

Southington's Democratic Registrar of Voters Ed Malczyk said an afternoon spike helped push numbers closer to the average for municipal elections, but with 6,581 people casting their ballots as of 6 p.m., the town was still on pace to see a slight reduction in their typical average as the 8 p.m. deadline loomed.

The numbers were up from the 3 p.m. review, which showed a full two percent decline, but were still behind the average of 28 to 32 percent that the town has seen over the past decade.

Democratic candidate for Planning and Zoning Louis Angellilo said the trend this year has been "different" and made guessing what would happen nearly impossible.

"All we can do is continue to get our names out there until the polls close, then wait and see," Angellilo said.

Updated 3:30 p.m.
Across the town, the turnout is down slightly for the 2011 municipal election, with a total of 16.47 percent of the electorate casting their ballots as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to Southington's Democratic Registrar of Voters Ed Malczyk.

Figures through 3 p.m. showed that 4,515 had cast their vote, compared to to 18.1 percent, or 5,048 voters, over the same time period during the 2009 election.

"We've had 426 people so far (at Kennedy Middle School)," said moderator Tony Tucci. "I would expect about 700 by day's end. We don't anticipate seeing a late day rush as we usually would with something like a presidential election."

James Sinclair, who was standing outside Kennedy on Tuesday, said there was an initial rush comprised largely of the senior population early on, but that it has been relatively light for the most part throughout the day.

"Really there just hasn't been much of a crowd at all today," he said. "It's hard to get a good feel for what is going to happen."

Original Story
As of 12 p.m. Tuesday, the town’s Registrar of Voters reported that 3,220 people had come out to cast their ballot for the local election, a 0.75 percent decline over the same time period for the 2009 elections.

Democratic Registrar of Voters Edward Malczyk said turnout “was about expected” given some are still recovering from the storm that left 13,000 without power just over one week ago. The town has also received just under 300 absentee ballots, he said.

“The turnout for local elections is always less than state elections and far less than presidential elections,” Malcyzk said. “We do expect a small rush at the end of the business day, but nothing out of the ordinary from what we usually see.”

The town had a 28.9 percent turnout for the 209 municipal elections, with a total of 8,058 voting in that one. As additional turnout numbers come in at 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and once the polls close, the numbers wwill be made available, he said.

Stay tuned to Southington patch throughout the day as we will continue to provide you election coverage throughout the day.