Branford's state elections are seeing a significant turnout at the town's seven polling sites, with nearly 40 percent of the total electorate logging their votes by 2 p.m. The townwide tally looks to be on track to hit a voter turnout of well over 60 percent by time the polls close at  8 p.m., according to the Registrar's Office.

Branford Registrar Dan Hally (D) and Deputy Registrar Nora Vetrano (R) culled numbers from all polling places at 2 p.m. showing votes had been made by 8,846 of the town's 22,821 voters registered as of Oct. 31, 2018.  Branford issued 1,044 absentee ballots in advance of election day. A small but steady number of residents are completing Election Day Registration (EDR) and voting at Branford Town Hall (basement level) he added. Vetrano is experiencing her first election from a head Registrar's seat, filling in for Republican Registrar Marion E. Burkard while Burkard recuperates from a medical issue.

The registrars are relying on 112 volunteers assisting moderators at each of the polling sites on Election Day, as well as the assistance of Town Clerk Lisa Arpin who is overseeing EDR.  A few glitches were addressed by the Registrars and moderators at some sites. Issues which had come up as of 2 p.m. included an early afternoon partial power outage in District 1 (as of press time, voting is continuing at the site, Branford High School), an inoperable tabulator replaced in District 6 (Murphy School) and a slight delay at the opening hour at District 7 (Tisko School) for delivery of the correct voter list. Some voters who needed to make it to work did have to leave District 7 site before they could vote this morning due to the delay, said Hally. Morning turnout was heaviest at District Five (Indian Neck School) with the longest line count holding 76 people in line for a wait of less than 10 minutes at 10 a.m., said Hally.

Numbers of registered voters who came to their respective polling places to vote as of 2 p.m. on Nov. 6 included 37 percent at District 1, 43 percent at District 2 (St. Therese Church), 39 percent at District 3 (Orchard House Adult Medical Day Care Center), 37 percent at District 4 (Branford Fire Headquarters), 44 percent at District 5, 34 percent at District 6 and 42 percent at District 7.