Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said that between 65 and 70 polling locations under Connecticut Light & Power’s auspices remain without electric power, down from approximately 100 polling locations yesterday.  Merrill also reported that approximately 25 polling locations in the service area of United Illuminating are still lacking electrical power.

According to a release issued by the Secretary of the State’s office, these figures are based on reports provided to Merrill directly from the utilities today.  

“At this point, we are monitoring the situation very closely with our partners at the local level who must administer the presidential election on Tuesday Nov. 6,” Merrill said in a release.  “We still have some polling places that lack electricity, and both power utilities have assured us they are working very hard to restore power to these locations as soon as possible.  At the local level, towns and cities are already executing their election preparation functions and backup plans where necessary for preparing voter lists and making sure the voting machines are ready to use next Tuesday.  We will be ready to vote next Tuesday no matter what, and the preferences would be not to move or consolidate any polling locations unless absolutely necessary.  My message to our local officials continues to be to focus on the tasks at hand, to coordinate with local and state government to find alternate locations for voting if necessary, and most importantly to inform voters of those changes with adequate time before the election so voters can know where to cast a ballot.”