Turnout down, but rising

Two years ago, during the hard-fought mayoral race between Republican William Stortz and Democrat Gerard Couture, 38.4 percent of the city's registered voters showed up at the polls.
This time around, turnout appears likely to be lower.
As of 1 p.m., when the rain finally began to stop, turnout stood at 16.8 percent overall. That compares to 19.7 percent overall at the same time in 2005.
Republican Registrar Ellie Klapatch said that turnout has been "rather slow" this year, but it appeared to be picking up as the sun started coming out early in the afternoon.
At the American Legion precinct, Republican City Council candidate Bob Merrick and Democrat Frank Nicastro, an incumbent, stood outside looking to pick up a few extra votes as voters headed in.
Merrick said that he received a "very positive" response from voters, much like he got going door-to-door during the campaign.
"People are positive about the city," Merrick said. "People love Bristol."
Nicastro said that too many people badmouth Bristol. "They don't realize we have a great city," Nicastro said.
So far, there haven't been any troubles with the new voting machines, officials said.
State Sen. Tom Colapietro, a Bristol Democrat, said he liked the new voting system. It's easy, he said.
Klapatch said there haven't been any problems with the machines.
"People seem to be doing fine with the machines," Klapatch said.

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com