Voter Turn Out Increases at Tolland Polls

The traffic to Tolland polling places has increased over the last couple of hours, with a total of 2,007 voters (21.74 percent) submitting their votes by 6 p.m.

That's adds up to about a 3 percent increase from the 5 p.m. numbers of 18.8 percent, but lags behind the more typical turnout like the 32 percent turnout in 2007, which had a full 440 more voters to reach 26 percent through the polls by 6 p.m. However, this year's election is soaring ahead of 2009's numbers, which had almost reached their peak at 14.4 percent at 6 p.m.

Tolland resident Marty Dougherty said that he chose candidates for a variety of reasons, but hopes that all the candidates that are elected will work as a team to address Tolland's issues.

"I'm hoping that being from both sides of the table they can figure something out," he said while leaving the polls.

Jennifer Avery said that she gave her support to candidates after and gaining a better understanding of their views.

"It's hard to know [all the candidates] in detail," she said. "I went through the Patch to see what they had to say."

Despite ongoing construction at the town hall parking lot and the widespread power outages of the past few days, Democratic Registrar of Voters Michael Wyman said that the election is running smoothly so far.

"The parking lot surprisingly hasn't been an issue," he said. Department of Public Works employees are on duty assisting residents park and back out of the parking lot, which DPW employees temporarily lined overnight.

Polls will be open at town hall and the senior center until 8 p.m.

Check back to Tolland Patch for election results as Election Day 2011 wraps up.