A steady stream of Greenwich voters headed to the town’s 12 polling places Tuesday, but turnout fell short of that seen in 2008, the last presidential election year.
Seventy-one percent of the town’s registered voters, or 25,765, cast their ballots before polls closed at 8 p.m., according to the town’s registrars of voters. Last year, a total of 27,543 went to the polls.
On Tuesday, the heaviest voting was seen between 7 and 8 a.m., when 2,823 people voted. The midday hours saw a lull in activity, with voters dipping from 2,031 between 11 a.m. and noon to 1,462 between noon and 1 p.m. That number held about steady over the next hour.
The lingering effects of last week’s Hurricane Sandy did not seem to significantly impact voter turnout. About 5 percent of the town remains without power — though all polling places were up and running — and some roads were still littered with debris. The vast majority of roads were passable, however.
As expected, the largest voter totals were seen at Central Middle School (District 8), with 2,988 voters, and North Mianus School (District 12), with 2,464.
Archive for the ‘Greenwich’ Category
Greenwich: 2012 turnout falls short of 2008
Sandy and Election Day
Did Hurricane Sandy have any impact on the election? It didn’t seem like it, even at the polling places in coastal Greenwich, one of the hardest hit areas. Power was on to the schools, and a steady stream of cars flowed in and out of parking lots.
At Riverside School, moderator Gayle DePoli said that the storm didn’t seem to affect the turnout, or the stable of volunteers manning the polls.
“Some of us still don’t have power in our houses, but we still came,” DePoli said.
Spot the candidates
Dispatch from Greenwich Time correspondent Jay Polansky:
Greenwich resident Austin Clark has a penchant for spotting candidates at the polls.
He spotted Cos Cob resident Jim Himes, who is running for re-election in the 4th District of the U.S. House of Representatives, and his wife, Mary, sneak in to Central Middle School’s back entrance on his way to the polls.
But his presence didn’t go unnoticed.
“Reporters got him – brought him out the front,” Clark said.
While Clark doesn’t support Himes, he said he was happy the candidate said hello to him and shook his hand.
Earlier in the day, Clark drove up to North Street School to see U.S. Senate candidate and Greenwich resident Linda McMahon vote.
“That was fun,” said Clark, who was outside Central Middle School campaigning for state Rep. Fred Camillo, R-151st District. “She had a good crowd.”
Obamacare vs. entitlements: A tale of two voters
Megan Epand usually votes for Democrats, but this year her decision was personal.
Epand, 31, doesn’t want to see the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, disappear. After being in the hospital for 10 days recently, Epand worries that if Republican Mitt Romney is elected president, and makes good on his promise to repeal Obamacare, she’ll be in trouble. After 2014, insurance companies are barred from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions.
“If they repeal Obamacare, that could affect me personally, because a lot of companies won’t pick me up,” Epand said after voting at Old Greenwich School. “I feel that much more strongly about the issues this year than I have in the past.”
Chris Keeler, on the other hand, thinks that there are too many people accepting entitlements. Keeler, who also cast his ballot at Old Greenwich School, cited a statistic that there are 68 million people on food stamps (it was actually around 47 million as of this past June, according to FactCheck.org).
“That’s a huge increase under the Obama administration,” Keeler said.
A candidate’s best friend
Dispatch from Greenwich Time correspondent Jay Polansky:
State Rep. Fred Camillo,R-151st District, tried to start a conversation with all who walked by him Tuesday afternoon, including man’s best friend.
“I think we’ve met before,” said Camillo, extending his hand toward one canine that hadn’t quite learned to shake hands outside Central Middle School Tuesday.
“Did he just snub me?” said Camillo, who is running for re-election.
But the encounter was all in good fun. The dog, who is named Leo, and Camillo go way back – to Greenwich-based Adopt-A-Dog.
“We’re old friends, Leo and I,” said Camillo, a dog lover.
Camillo said he knew many people who walked by him and he talked with many about the power situation in town after Hurricane Sandy hit Greenwich last week.
He was also quick to acknowledge two volunteer firefighters who helped him with a hole in his house caused by a fallen tree.
“It’s not like I’m running for the first time,” Camillo said, adding that most of his conversations took the form of a meet-and-greet – a “hi, how are you. Nice to see you” feel.
Birthday ballots
Dispatch from Greenwich Time’s Frank MacEachern:
Luke McCarthy celebrated his 72nd birthday Tuesday by casting his ballot for Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
He was unhappy with both Romney and President Barack Obama.
“They spent too much money and talked too little about the issues.”
He said both candidates didn’t address the poor and said Republicans have to reach out to Black and Hispanic voters.
McCarthy, a backcountry resident, said he voted for Obama in 2008 but said he is disappointed that Obama didn’t accomplish what he promised to do.
McCarthy is dismayed how much money was spent on campaigns. He said he spoke with C-SPAN creator Brian Lamb in 1996 and said Lamb told him money was the biggest threat to democracy.
“That was in 1996, 16 years go and it has become so much worse,” McCarthy said.
E-Day: An end to political emails?
Aside from some closure, voters like Steven and Jean Rubin are looking forward to an end to the nasty debates that have crept into seemingly every form of communication this election season.
And it’s not just email forwards. Steven Rubin, 62, said someone in an online alumni group he belongs to started sending him a barrage of political messages through the professional social networking site LinkedIn.
“Our country is in a very negative, nasty state,” said Jean Rubin, also 62, after the couple cast their ballots at Old Greenwich School Tuesday afternoon.
Jean Rubin did say that the negative campaigning affected her vote, but she didn’t feel comfortable sharing her political views — and who she voted for — with a newspaper reporter. She felt it was one of the last bits of information people could keep private. One peek at the Internet these days, and it’s obvious a lot of people don’t feel the same way.
“Maybe I’m just old fashioned, she said.
More than bake sales
The news may have turned to Election Day, but at schools in coastal Greenwich, hit hard with flooding and fire, people haven’t forgotten about Hurricane Sandy. The Riverside School PTA is collecting donations of blankets, toiletries and other items to distribute to those who lost their homes in New York. Pictured is a donation site at Old Greenwich School, where voting has hit a lull in the middle of the afternoon.
