Norfolk voters in both parties turn out in record numbers

By Linda Childs

February 5 dawned dark and dreary, with blustery winds and cold rain, a day altogether befitting an icebox. Undaunted by a bit of inclement weather, an impressive number of voters made their way to town hall to cast their ballots in the presidential primary.
By the time the polls closed at 8 p.m., the rain had stopped and 384 votes had been cast, smashing the previous record turnout for a presidential primary. Democrats out polled Republicans by a three to one margin, 252 to 81.
Barack Obama prevailed over Hillary Clinton by an almost 2:1 ratio, 162 to 88. John Edwards gleaned 3 only votes.
Norfolk’s Republicans favored John McCain by a slight margin over Mitt Romney, 39 to 28, with Mike Huckabee getting 11 votes and Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul three each.
Democratic voter participation across the state hit a new record of over 53 per cent. Norfolk did even better, with a record 64 percent turnout, almost doubling the previous record of 34 percent set in 2004.
Similarly, Republican turnout here reached 41 percent, compared with 38 percent statewide.
According to Madelyn Falk, Deputy Democratic Registrar, more than a dozen unaffiliated voters showed up at town hall only to be turned away because they were not previously registered in either party. One long term Republican left without voting when she was told she was not on the Democratic roll.
Voter apathy seems a thing of the past. In the previous 20 months, more than 34,000 new voters registered in Connecticut. Since last November, when the presidential primary campaign began to heat up, Democratic registration outpaced Republican registration 11,139 to 4,608. There was another surge in the final four weeks before February 5, when 7,552 new voters registered as Democrats and 2,751 signed up as Republicans.