According to official results posted by Connecticut’s Secretary of State, 33.67% of registered voters cast a ballot in the municipal elections held last November. That is a statewide average. Many cities and towns came nowhere near that number. Our state capital deserves special recognition for lowest turnout at 13.74% of Hartford voters making it to the polls. Mayor Arunan Arulampalam was elected with a total of 4,702 votes out of 62,569 registered voters.

Such low voter participation is a symptom of significant problems in our society. Although missing voters would likely express their own individual reasons for failing to cast a ballot, the bottom line is that people do not vote because voting is not a high priority in their lives.