By Zeke Miller

NEW HAVEN, 2:10 p.m. — In the month before Tuesday’s election, Connecticut registered an unprecedented number of new voters. Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz announced Monday that 134,502 residents registered to vote in the month of October, bringing the total of new voter registrations since January to over 300,000. Over one third of the newly registered voters are between the ages of 18 and 29, she said.

“The incredible interest in this year’s election is reflected in the voter registration numbers,” Bysiewicz said in a statement. “It is truly inspiring to see so many 18 year olds and 80 year olds registering to vote for the first time.”

Newly registered voters affiliated with the Democratic Party over the Republican Party by a ratio of over three-to-one, although a plurality of voters registered as unaffiliated.

Bysiewicz said she predicts voter turnout to hit 90 percent on Tuesday, well in excess of the turnout in the 2004 and 2000 presidential elections. Her office said it had taken additional steps to ensure a smooth election despite the expected crowds at the polls, including recruiting more poll workers, educating voters about Election Day procedures and readying rapid response teams to deal with voting issues as they arise.

For the first time in the state’s history, the total number of registered voters has now topped 2 million.