Baala Shakya, Contributing Photographer

The second floor of City Hall was filled by 5 p.m. on Tuesday as hundreds of voters lined up to participate in same-day registration — registering to vote and casting a ballot on Election Day.

The line wrapped City Hall’s atrium twice, snaked out through side hallways and — by 6 p.m. — was partially relocated to the first floor. Prospective voters in line told the News throughout the night that they had waited in the line for up to three hours. 

In total, 1,130 New Haveners voted through same-day registration on Tuesday — almost double the previous record for same-day registration turnout, per elections moderator Dominic Tammaro. The last few voters cast their ballots at 10:15 p.m., over two hours after polls closed at 8 p.m.

City “never expected” so many voters

Same-day registration in Connecticut allows eligible citizens to register and vote in person on the same day. 

Voters must go to the designated same-day registration location in each town rather than their polling place. Anyone in line at the same-day registration site by the close of polls, 8 p.m. on Election Day, can remain to register and vote. 

Same-day registration was offered during each of the 14 days of early voting, and 1,012 voters took advantage of the opportunity.

Tammaro said that he found the Election Day numbers surprising considering the lower numbers of same-day registrations during each day of early voting. Tammaro believed that the additional 14 days of same-day registration opportunities would yield a less busy Election Day.

Israel Ortiz and Daniel Gutierrez, both from Connecticut, participated in same-day registration sporting Harris-Walz hats. Ortiz, a resident of Fair Haven, said that he registered and voted today because he “was just uneducated” about early voting. 

Gutierrez, a student at Northeastern University who returned to his home state of Connecticut to vote, said that the long lines to register and vote are worth it. 

“This is my first time ever [voting],” Gutierrez said. “I just wanted to be 100 percent sure that my vote was going to get counted so being there in person made me feel more secure about my vote counting.” 

Lucy Ehrenfeld was registered to vote in Massachusetts but did not receive an absentee ballot in time. As an East Rock resident, she decided that same-day registration in New Haven would be the best way for her to vote. 

“Getting to vote today in support of trans rights was super important in order to help preserve the work I do, but more importantly the rights of my patients,” said Ehrenfeld, who works as a nurse practitioner providing gender-affirming health care. 

As the day dragged on, some voters grew agitated. Around 6:15 p.m., four women walked out of the line to vote after engaging in loud altercations with other voters and shouting expletives at elections officials, alleging they were misdirected and should be farther ahead in the line.

Other voters sought to raise spirits as the hours ticked by. Ian Dunn, an organizer with the UNITE HERE unions, pulled up to City Hall around 4:30 p.m. with a supply of bottled water and a speaker, out of which he promptly blasted Lizzo and The Beatles.

Dunn said that he had been “running around all day, trying to keep the vibes up,” he said. “The speaker just changes everything, doesn’t it?”

Rob Combs and his family came to vote through same-day registration because they “didn’t have a choice” — they just moved and did not register their address far enough in advance to be assigned to a regular polling site in New Haven. 

At around 6:30 p.m., Combs ordered 10 boxes of pizza through Pizza to the Polls, an organization that sends pizzas to voters in lines with estimated wait times of at least three hours. The pizza was passed out to voters and election workers.

Yalies drive up turnout

Many of the prospective voters who lined up at City Hall on Tuesday were Yale students originally from other states. Before, between and during classes, University students joined the hours-long queue of prospective registered voters.

When asked why same-day registration turnout on Tuesday was so high, Tammaro, the moderator, pointed to extra messaging from candidates and from Yale groups targeting Election Day.

“A lot of the Yale people said that they were getting information from Yale groups which told them this was open, to come here,” Tammaro said. “I know other candidates had literature out telling people about this.” 

Yale Votes: A Student Initiative encouraged students who did not receive or could not return an absentee ballot to register and vote on Tuesday. The group also held walks to the polls that day, some of which escorted student voters to City Hall for same-day registration.

Daniel Wang ’27, one of the last individuals to register on Election Day, did not come to City Hall through a Yale Votes walk. However, he told the News that the Yale Votes initiatives influenced his decision to come vote and gave him information on how he could.

Salvador Gómez-Colón ’25 is from Puerto Rico. He voted in Connecticut on Tuesday “for the three million people who cannot vote in the presidential election” — the population of Puerto Rico, who despite being citizens do not have electoral college votes. 

He said that it was “very complicated” for Puerto Rican residents to request a ballot. He found out this morning that he could register to vote same-day in Connecticut. He added that while local elections in Puerto Rico are important, given the circumstances, he is enthusiastic about voting in the presidential race. 

Gómez-Colón stood in line for around two hours and 30 minutes before registering. 

Texas excess?

Though Yale students at City Hall hailed from dozens of states and registered the day of for myriad reasons — from forgetting to register previously to facing issues with mail-in voting — one story kept repeating.

Five students from Texas told the News that they experienced issues requesting or receiving an absentee ballot to vote in their home state.

Josh Danziger ’28 arrived at City Hall at 8:45 a.m. and had been standing in line for an hour and 15 minutes when he shared with the News that he initially did not plan to vote in Connecticut. Hoping to vote in Sen. Ted Cruz’s race for re-election in Texas, his home state, Danziger’s absentee ballot request was rejected three times because he had allegedly failed to specify which election he intended to vote in by mail, a claim that he denies. 

After the third rejection, Danziger decided instead to vote in Connecticut because he believes it is “important to create a habit for civic engagement.” 

Ella Piper Claffy ’28, another Texan, also had difficulties receiving an absentee ballot. Claffy initially had issues with her voter registration application being denied but eventually successfully submitted it by the state deadline. 

However, she did not receive her ballot until this afternoon, leaving just over 24 hours for it to be received back in Texas. She decided to vote in Connecticut instead. 

“I was so disappointed by the way this all played out,” Claffy said. “It never ever occurred to me that as an American citizen, I would have to spend five-plus hours on the phone with people in multiple different counties trying to just get my ballot and be able to vote.”

Josh Siegel ’26, originally from Houston, also did not receive the absentee ballot he had requested. Siegel came to City Hall in the morning to vote.

Lacey Neel SOM ’25 is a registered voter in Austin, Texas. Neel and her husband wanted to vote in Texas because they felt like their votes could “make a bigger impact in smaller elections that we are invested in.” 

However, because their address had changed since the last time they voted, requesting a mail-in ballot would take up too much of their time. Neel voted for the Harris-Walz ticket at City Hall instead. She described herself as a “one-issue voter” for women’s reproductive rights.

Connecticut is one of the 20 states that allows for same-day voter registration. 

Zachary Suri contributed reporting.