Voter turnout reached record highs on Election Day. Latest numbers estimated 70% of registered voters in the state cast their ballots. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said Tuesday afternoon that those numbers were the highest participation rate she’d ever seen. Inevitably first time voters are part of that boost but as they cast their inaugural votes some obstacles got in the way.
Elijah Maturo was not having a good day. He sat on a bench outside Torrington City Hall, mulling over what to do. As he was registering to vote, election officials told him he needed documentation proving residency and doing that was going to be hard.
"Because I literally just moved here last week," Maturo said. "So I might not even be able to vote today."
He considered going back to Hartford, where he was currently registered, but without transportation that was a long shot. His other option was to find a piece of mail sent to him at the apartment he just moved into. Either scenario provided discouraging challenges.
Maturo said he was disappointed. This was the first presidential election he was eligible to vote in. When voters register on election day, there are extra hurdles to jump through, like providing documentation and extra wait time.
Same day registration worked for Oliver Jordan. This was his first presidential vote too but he’s been of age for some time.
"I’ll be honest with you. I never really saw much of a reason to vote," said Jordan. He did consider voting in 2008 when Barack Obama was running. But even then, he didn’t think the candidate he would vote for would actually win.
But today, Jordan said, he was voting not out of lack of hope but because he sees the country going in the wrong direction. And Jordan said, it felt good: "it’s like a refreshing feeling, it just feels like you actually made a difference for something—something that’s gonna be good."
When Maturo got home, he found something refreshing in his mailbox.
"By some miracle, I had a student loan envelope that was addressed to me," he said in a phone call on Election Night, "and I was like 'thank God.'"
Maturo went on to cast his vote. He said if his preferred candidate won the popular vote and not the electoral, he would still wonder if his vote mattered. But at the very least, he can rest assured that his vote was cast and counted.
Ali Oshinskie is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Ali covers the Naugatuck River Valley for Connecticut Public Radio. Email her at aoshinskie@ctpublic.org and follow her on Twitter at @ahleeoh.
