UPDATE (March 20, 2024): This article has been updated to provide the correct email address for the Office for the Registrar of Voters.

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The Registrar of Voters is informing Newtown residents that early voting for the Presidential Preference Primary is offered this year. This will be the first time early voting is available in Connecticut.

Early voting will be conducted in the Registrar of Voters office of Newtown Municipal Center at 3 Primrose Street. The early voting hours are 10 am to 6 pm Tuesday through Thursday, March 26-28; and Saturday, March 30.

Residents must be a registered Democrat to vote in the Democratic Primary and a registered Republican to vote in the Republican Primary.

To vote early, residents are to go to the Registrar of Voters office and get checked in to receive a ballot and an envelope. From there, they will fill in the oval and put the ballot into the envelope. Finally, residents will sign the envelope and return it sealed. Residents are not allowed to leave with either the ballot or the envelope.

Democratic Registrar LeReine Frampton said the Registrar of Voters will remind residents with a registered voting status by mailing them a flyer with important upcoming voting opportunities. These include the early and in-person voting information for the Presidential Preference Primary, alongside in-person voting information on the Annual Budget Referendum.

“Because of the change in the polling place where everyone’s gonna vote at one spot, we have to notify everybody,” Frampton continued. “So we’re doing that and reminding them about the referendum at the same time because we don’t have a very good turnout for that either.”

In-person voting for the Presidential Preference Primary will take place in the Newtown Middle School gym from 6 am to 8 pm Tuesday, April 2. Residents will go to their own district and political party within the gym.

There will also be absentee ballots available for the Presidential Preference Primary starting Tuesday, March 12, through the Town Clerk’s office at the municipal center. The Town Clerk’s office is open weekdays from 8 am to 4:30 pm.

Absentee ballots may be requested through postage, email, or in person. The ballot can either be mailed to residents or they can go in person to request and pick one up. While residents can only pick up their own ballot, they can drop off an application for someone else and the ballot will be mailed to them.

Residents may drop off their completed ballot in the ballot receptacle outside the municipal center entrances or deliver it to the Town Clerk’s office during business hours.

Anyone submitting an absentee ballot should make sure their ballot is in the inner envelope and that the inner envelope is signed. The inner envelope is then placed into the outer envelope to be mailed or dropped off. Only the inner envelope can go into the outer envelope. Each ballot comes with its own set of envelopes and must be processed that way.

The Annual Budget Referendum will be held at the middle school gym from 6 am to 8 pm on Tuesday, April 23. While there is no early voting for the referendum, absentee voting will be available from the Town Clerk’s office once the budget is set.

Republican Registrar Erica Canfield encouraged residents to double-check their ballot and make sure it is filled out properly before submitting “because if it gets rejected, then your vote doesn’t count.

“Besides accuracy, one of the most important things to us is voter turnout,” she added. “We want you to come vote. Hopefully we’ll see you out there.”

For more information, contact the Registrar of Voters at registrar.of.voters@newtown-ct.gov or 203-270-4250, or visit newtown-ct.gov/registrar-voters.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.