A Voter's Smorgasbord

There are about six weeks to go before the statewide municipal elections on Nov. 8  and if you’re a voter or potential voter looking for information on the intricacies how the process works in Connecticut, the Secretary of the State’s Office has a website tailored just for you.

The secretary’s Voter Resources page has information on a broad range of topics, such as the primary results on the day terrorists struck this country on 9-11 (Wonder how many people never even knew that fateful day that primaries were being held?) to how to vote by absentee ballot.

Burning to know who won election to the top local offices in your town on Nov. 2, 1999? The site has those results as well as a host of other statewide, presidential and local election results for the past decade or so. On its more general election information page, the office has historical voting data, as well as a statement of the vote section with state and national results, on a biennial basis, going back to 1922.

You can also get access to a host of basic voter information, such as the sample ballots for the coming election and a pamphlet listing your rights as a voter, which is available in both English and Spanish versions. You can also get election forms, check out important election dates or learn about the Help America Vote Act, which in Connecticut ushered in a new kind of voting machine that replaced lever-style machines at the polls several years ago.

The secretary’s main elections page also includes information on ballot questions, election calendars, campaign finance rules and how to contact your state and local representatives, to name just a few of things available there.

And, as an aside, despite the fears and uncertainties on Sept. 11, 2001, at least 49,537 people in Connecticut were paying attention to the democratic process that day because that’s how many people voted in primaries held across the state, according to the primaries page.