McMahon, Murphy, Formica, Osten Take the Night

Republican Linda McMahon trounced former U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays with 76% of the vote Tuesday and Democrat Chris Murphy cruised by Susan Bysiewicz, the Middletown native and former Secretary of the State, by a comfortable 66% to 34% margin.

The two primary election winners will face off in November for the right to succeed Joe Lieberman in the U.S. Senate.

It was smooth sailing for McMahon in Montville but not so between Murphy and Bysiewicz; he won by just three votes here.

State Senate in Districts 2 and 5

The Democratic state senate race between Tom Reynolds and Catherine A. Osten, saw Reynolds win with 95 votes versus the 87 garnered by Osten, but it  wasn’t enough for him to take the night; Osten won enough votes in other communities to beat Reynolds.

Voter Denise Gladue is likely not thrilled. She told Montville Patch early Tuesday that Reynolds “has done a lot for Montville.”

A Osten worker sat on the blacktop at the Mohegan Fire House this morning not yet prepared for the long day ahead: “I’m getting paid, so it’s okay.”

Reynolds, who has been serving Ledyard and Montville residents for 10 years lost to Osten, the First Selectman of Sprague, for the 19thDistrict Senate Seat in this election. 

“Eighteen years is a pretty good run,” he said. “I think it’s time I do something else now.”

Reynolds said he congratulated Osten upon learning of the results. Osten said her campaign was a true grassroots effort and the victory was hard-won.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” she said of the results. “the campaign was unsupported by the political machinery and we won by having a campaign of the people, by the people.”

The 2nd Congressional Race

Paul Formica handily defeated Daria Novak. Formica received 303 votes and Novak 119 in Montville. Novak pledged to support her now former opponent in his bid to unseat incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Joseph Courtney, a Democrat from Vernon, CT in November. Courtney has served the district, which encompasses a large portion of eastern Connecticut, since 2007.

Who voted in Montville?

Out of 4,436 registered eligible voters -- registered Republicans and Democrats – 434 Republicans turned out to vote, which represents 29 percent of all eligible voters and 558 Democrats voted which is 20 percent of eligible Democrats, according to the Registrar of Voters.

“It went smoothly,” said Districts’ 1 and 6 poll location moderator Thomas Bartok. “Started pretty slow, then picked up, a slow and steady pace kept it going.”

What follows is the election day play-by-play with updates and voter counts.

Primary Day, Tues. Aug. 14

Update at 6 p.m.: Republican Registrar Mary Clark Wilson said voting really picked up and by this evening was nearly 20 percent. The polls are open for another 2 hours, until 8 p.m.

Earlier today, Montville Patch caught up with voter Denise Gladue at the Mohegan Fire House. Gladue described herself as pro-union, a Democrat and said she would be voting for Tom Reynolds and Chris Murphy. 

"I'm a union person. I'm going to support Tom because he's done a lot of good for (Montville) and I like Chris Murphy. He believes in bringing work and jobs back to the middle class. That's what we need to hear."

Patch will bring you primary election results the minute we have them tonight. 

Update at 1:45 p.m.:

Of the 4,436 eligible voters, just 399 had cast ballots in the primary election today, according to Registrar of Voters (Republican) Mary Clark-Wilson. 

One voter said people that don't vote can complain about elected officlas and the job they do, but have little right to. 

"That's the way I was brought up," said Angelo Mejlas, of Montville. He said low voter turnout "tells me people are not interested."

"I don't know why this important part of our society, our right to vote isn't more important (to others)," Mejlas said. 

Original Story:

According to the Registrar of Voters and moderators in two poll locations, the turnout has been "very, very low."

"You expect that in a primary, but not this low," said Moderator John O'Keeffe at the Mohegan Fire House, the poll location for voters from Districts 2 and 5. At 8:45 a.m. there had been 40 voters. At Town Hall at 9 a.m., there had been 20, and that included the poll workers.