Lyme-Old Lyme High School Senior Chase Gilbert, seated center, joins the top 25 runners at the CIAC State Opens on Monday.
NEW BRITAIN/OLD LYME — Congratulations to Lyme-Old Lyme High School Senior Chase Gilbert for earning the Cross-Country State Open title Monday at Wickham Park!
Gilbert’s time of 17:50.08 made her the fastest female runner among high schools of any size at the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference event. She also won the Class S championship at the same venue on Oct. 25 with a time of 17:51.9.
Gilbert is coached by former Olympian and world record holder Jan Merrill-Morin.
Last year, Gilbert committed to the University of Virginia.
Lyme Registrars of Voters Dottie Wells, D, and Judith Davies, R, said 374 voters had come out to vote on Election Day as of 1:20 p.m. All photos by olwenonline.com/.
LYME-OLD LYME–Voting officials in Lyme and Old Lyme on Election Day reported happy voters despite a glitch with one of the new tabulators in Lyme.
Lyme Registrars of Voters Dottie Wells, D, and Judith Davies, R, said there didn’t seem to be any problems with the Election Day tabulator in a previous test run or during the first hour of Election Day. But the machine around 7:20 a.m. spit back a ballot inserted face down by a voter, which was unusual because the machines are supposed to accept ballots inserted in any direction.
The problem ultimately affected four voters, though they were able to successfully cast their votes by inserting the ballots face up.
Officials tried to address the problem locally before calling in the tabulator’s vendor, Election Systems and Software (ES&S). A representative stationed in the area arrived at the Town Hall by 8 a.m., Wells said. Officials by midday did not know the cause of the problem, but were instructing all voters to insert their ballots face up as a workaround.
There are separate tabulators for early voting, absentee, same day and Election Day ballots. There is also a backup tabulator, Wells said.
The tabulator is one of about 2,500 new tabulators that replaced old scanners across the state this year as part of a $20 million package, according to reporting from CT News Junkie.
Wells said the first voter to experience the problem was understanding about having to wait for the poll workers to figure out what was going on.
“The voter was patient, and our staff was patient,” she said.
Lyme poll workers Liz Frankel, D, (left) and Leslie Lewis, R, handcounted early voting ballots on Election Day.
Wells and Davies described Election Day turnout as steady.
“People are happy to be here and doing their civic duty,” Wells said.
She said poll workers added two privacy booths to the six booths originally set up in the Town Hall meeting room in order to meet the demand.
Combined with early voting totals, turnout by 1:20 p.m. was at roughly 47% of total registered voters.
Lyme Registrar of Voters Judith Davies and Dottie Wells said early voting brought in 531 ballots from 253 Democrats, 165 unaffiliated voters, 103 Republicans and 9 minor party voters. While a breakdown of the affiliations of all registered voters wasn’t immediately available on Tuesday, data from Thomas’ office as of Oct. 17 shows there were 734 unaffiliated voters, 717 Democrats, 444 Republicans and 31 minor party voters, for a total of 1,926 voters.
Wells said 31 absentee ballots had been received as of Monday.
By 2 p.m., Old Lyme Head Moderator Fred Verillo said 1,040 voters had come out since the polls opened at 6 a.m. on Election Day.
Over at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School, Old Lyme Head Moderator Fred Verillo came back from guiding a resident with a disability through the process of using the town’s accessible voting system – which allowed the voter to listen to an audio version of the ballot while using a touchscreen – to describe “a robust turnout” at the polls. By 2 p.m., he said 1,040 voters had filed through the town’s one polling place.
“I’m happy because our voters are happy,” he said.
He said the new tabulators were running efficiently with no problems. He predicted they would make the overall tabulation process go more quickly and quietly.
The machines use paper ballots and are not connected to the internet, according to CT News Junkie.
“It’s so much better,” Verillo said. “I think we’re serving our community very well.”
Early voting brought in 1,553 ballots and absentee voters accounted for 155 ballots, according to Deputy Registrar of Voters Katherine Thuma.
Old Lyme poll workers Michael Reiter (left) and Patrice Scavone handcount early voting ballots on Election Day.
Thuma around midday said the total number of registrations in town, including two same-day registrations filed on Tuesday, amounted to 2,546 unaffiliated voters, 1,963 Democrats, 1,644 Republicans and 97 minor party voters.
Between the start of early voting and 2 p.m. Tuesday, about 28% of those registered voters had come out to vote.
Before polls opened this morning for Election Day, more than 170,000 Connecticut residents had already cast a ballot.
That includes 1,553 early voters in Old Lyme and 530 in Lyme, according to local voting officials.
Data from Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas’ office shows voters also returned more than 20,000 absentee ballots, which will be counted today.
In Old Lyme, Deputy Registrar of Voters Katherine Thuma said turnout over the 14-day early voting period consisted of 675 Democrats, 461 unaffiliated voters, 402 Republicans and 15 minor party voters. That’s compared to total registered voters as of Tuesday that totaled 2,546 unaffiliated voters, 1,963 Democrats, 1,644 Republicans and 97 minor party voters.
By mid-day Tuesday, Thuma said 155 absentee ballots had been processed.
Lyme Registrar of Voters Judith Davies and Dottie Wells said early voting brought in 253 Democrats, 165 unaffiliated voters, 103 Republicans and 9 minor party voters. While a breakdown of the affiliations of all registered voters wasn’t immediately available on Tuesday, data from Thomas’ office as of Oct. 17 shows there were 734 unaffiliated voters, 717 Democrats, 444 Republicans and 31 minor party voters.
Wells said 31 absentee ballots had been received as of Monday.
Of the 170,920 early voters to cast a ballot as of Nov. 2, 83,479 are registered Democrats, and 36,525 are Republicans. Another 48,830 are not affiliated with either party and 2,085 are classified as “other,” Thomas’ office said.
Of the 20,197 absentee ballots, Democrats returned 10,277 and Republicans 4,402 with 5,299 unaffiliated and 219 others.
These totals are audited throughout the early voting period, according to Thomas’ office.
Stratford, driven by a contentious mayor’s race, continues to lead the way with 4,743 early voters, followed by Milford with 4,414, Greenwich with 3,706 and Hamden with 3,679. Trumbull (3,616) rounded out the top 5. The rest of the 10 top early voting communities were Norwalk (3,481), Fairfield (3,410), West Hartford (3,057), Stamford (2,771), and Bristol (2,744).
Editor’s Note: This article was updated with early voting and voter registration totals from Old Lyme voting officials and again with additional Lyme numbers.
Incumbent First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker (left to right) is running against Republican John Mesham in Old Lyme, while Republican Tom St. Louis challenges unaffiliated, Democrat-backed candidate Christy Zelek in Lyme.
LYME/OLD LYME–Still making up your mind how to cat your vote? We’ve compiled all our election coverage in one place to help you make an informed decision.
If you haven’t already voted, don’t forget to cast that ballot before the clock runs out. Get the details here.
Read on to explore the candidates and issues through our original reporting, the candidates’ own voices, and perspectives from neighbors across Lyme and Old Lyme.
OLD LYME —On Sunday, Nov.16, the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme (FCCOL) will be having a small gathering after the 10 a.m. service for those who are interested in exploring membership a little further. It is not a requirement in order to join, and if you can’t make it to the orientation, it is not a problem.
A press release about the event states, “This is simply a way for all of us to get to know one another better and to learn more about FCCOL’s history and community.”
The release continues that in relation to the word “membership,” it is known that, “… there are those who get hung up on the word and who feel resistance to the very notion of membership. That’s because in many parts of our lives it suggests something transactional, dues and obligations owed in exchange for some kind of (exclusive) right of access.”
The release adds, “That’s not how it is for us. It’s simply a way to be more deeply in communion with one another, to build relationships, and to explore our faith journeys together.”
If you are interested in exploring membership further, then let.any of the church ministers know. Alternatively, you can just show up at the meeting and they will be glad to see you.
Call the church 860-434-8686 or email fccol@fccol.org.
