Lines are short despite somewhat heavier than expected turnout for the 2014 election.

By Ronni Newton

A steady stream of voters arrived at Conard High School, the polling place for West Hartford’s 6th district. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

A steady flow of voters streamed into polling places throughout West Hartford, but there were plenty of ballots available and no more than a few people waiting in line at the town’s nine polling places for the gubernatorial election on Nov. 4, 2014.

The only reported problem, according to Town Clerk Essie Labrot, was an issue with parking this morning at Sedgwick Middle School. “We sent the police over and they made some adjustments to the parking lot,” she said, and that solved the problem.

Keary Pitt, moderator at West Hartford’s 6th district polling place at Conard High School said the turnout “seems like more than I expected.” At 3:10 p.m., 1,567 ballots had been cast. There are 4,090 voters registered in the 6th district.

State Sen. Beth Bye, doing some last minute campaigning at Braeburn Elementary School in West Hartford’s 9th district, said, “The turnout seems very good for a non-presidential election year.” Inside Braeburn, moderator Robert Hill confirmed that the polls were busy, however the turnout was steady and there had not been much of a line.

Assistant Registrar David Thomas said that they had already had to empty Braeburn’s ballot box because it was full. As of 4:05 p.m., 2,215 of the district’s 5,027 voters had cast a ballot.

Labrot said the turnout in West Hartford in the last gubernatorial election in 2010 was 68 percent, and she thinks this year will be higher, likely in the 70s. She said that 2,025 absentee ballots had been issued for this election, and 1,825 of those had been returned.

Democratic Registrar of Voters Carolyn Thornberry said that election day registration was much more popular this year compared to 2013 when only 37 people registered at the polls. By 4 p.m., she said that approximately 200 had already registered.

Not including election day registrations, there are 39,577 registered voters in West Hartford according to Labrot’s records.