During these dog days of summer, one of the last things on the minds of many is carving out 10 or 15 minutes on a Tuesday to vote in the state primaries. In fact, if you are not a registered voter with a major party, or are registered as an Independent or Unaffiliated voter, you get a pass from this important civic duty.

This makes the responsibility of those who have put a stake in the ground and declared themselves members of the Democratic or Republican parties all the more palpable.

On Tuesday, August 9, all Newtown polling stations will be open and staffed from 6 am until 8 pm by dedicated volunteers and employees of the Registrars of Voters Office so you may cast your ballot in person.

Our Town Clerk’s staff is also trying to make it easier and more convenient for local registered Democrats and Republicans by opening on Saturday, August 6, from 9 am to noon, to accept absentee ballots from those who will not be available to vote in person next Tuesday. The office is within Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

Absentee ballots are now available at the Town Clerk’s office, and may be applied for by any qualified voter unable to vote at the polls because you are participating in active service in the Armed Forces of the United States; absent from town; because you are sick; you have a physical disability; you follow religious tenets which forbid secular activity on the day of the election, primary or referendum, and/or because you have duties as a primary, election or referendum official at a polling place other than your own during all of the hours of voting.

Absentee ballots will similarly be accepted at the Town Clerk’s Office on Monday, August 8, between 8 am and 4:30 pm. If you have already applied for and received an absentee ballot, it can be dropped off in that office up to or on Primary Day between 8 am and 8 pm. Those ballots can also be dropped in the the convenient and secure 24-hour drop boxes at each entrance to the municipal center anytime up until 8 pm next Tuesday when polls close.

For any major party member late to the game and just catching up, here is what you need to know:

Newtown Republicans and Democrats are being called to consider candidates for Secretary of the State.

Additionally, Democrats will have the chance to consider one among the three hopefuls vying for the State Treasurer slot on the November ballot, while Republicans will choose which of the three GOP challengers they want to see opposing Richard Blumenthal for one of the state’s two US Senate seats this fall.

Democratic candidates for Secretary of the State are Maritza Bond and Stephanie Thomas. Republican candidates for Secretary of the State are Dominic Rapini and Terrie E. Wood.

Democratic candidates for State Treasurer are Dita Bhargava, Erick Russell, and Karen DuBois-Walton. The Republican US Senate hopefuls are the GOP’s endorsed challenger and former State House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, along with Leora R. Levy and Peter Lumaj.

On August 9, polling locations are as follows:

District 1-6 and 1-7 — Newtown Middle School, 11 Queen Street;

District 2-6 — Newtown High School, 12 Berkshire Road; and

District 3-6 — Reed Intermediate School, 3 Trades Lane.

If you are engaged enough to maintain a major party affiliation, then it is your right and privilege to participate in all related elections. To be sure your candidate of choice makes the general election ballot this November, you need to step up and vote in your party primary on August 9 — or file your absentee ballot post haste.