New London — City Democrats added 20 more voters to their ranks before a noon deadline on Tuesday even as mayoral candidates Michael Passero and Daryl Justin Finizio made last-minute appeals to voters.

Passero, a two-term city councilor and the endorsed Democratic mayoral candidate, faces incumbent Democratic Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio for a spot on the November ballot.

Passero has additionally secured a place on the Nov. 3 ballot as a petitioning candidate should he lose to Finizio.

There are a total of 7,091 registered Democrats eligible for Wednesday’s Democratic primary, according to Democratic Registrar of Voters Bill Geising, up by nearly 31 percent from the 5,416 Democrats eligible in the 2011 primary.

Geising said poll workers began setting up the city’s three polling places Tuesday evening in advance of Wednesday’s vote, which supporters from both mayoral camps expect to be a close race.

Finizio is an attorney and former college professor who said that despite the learning curve of his being the first elected mayor in the city in 90 years, his administration has made changes that led to a lower crime rate and attracted economic drivers that include the National Coast Guard Museum.

Finizio also is running on his record of balancing budgets and willingness to make necessary but unpopular cuts when needed.

While he supports more hiring at the police department, he said much of his focus has been to halt occurrences of civil rights violations by police under past administrations.

“I feel we’ve run a very good campaign that’s centered on the strong contrasts between me and my opponent,” Finizio said. “I have a strong positive, progressive vision on how to move the city forward. He has offered a conservative vision on how to take our city back to the way it was.”

Passero is a veteran city firefighter and labor attorney who has said if elected he plans to seek more consensus and compromise with the City Council and allow for better communication with the mayor’s office.

Central to his platform has been criticism of Finizio’s management style and choices as department leaders, which he claims amounts to political cronyism.

He plans to immediately seek a chief administrative officer to manage overall operations of the city.

He also said he plans to mend relationships with small business owners, boost the police department numbers and offer more support for rank and file police officers than Finizio has.

“I’m feeling really optimistic,” Passero said during a Get Out The Vote steak dinner rally at the Bird’s Eye Café.

“We’ve stuck to our guns and run a positive campaign based on the issues. All he’s done is sling mud,” Passero said.

In addition to the Democratic mayoral race, voters will also choose which seven of the eight Democratic candidates for City Council will reach the Nov. 3 ballot.

The Democratic candidates for City Council are: Efrain Dominguez, Martha Marx, Anthony Nolan, Erica Richardson, John Satti, Michael Tranchida, Don Venditto and Ryan Henowitz.

Polling places will be open from 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Wednesday. New London’s polling places include: District 1, New London High School, 490 Jefferson Ave.; District 2, Harbor School, 432 Montauk Ave.; District 3, Nathan Hale School, 37 Beech Drive.

Tuesday’s noon deadline was for the registration of new voters and unaffiliated voters wishing to enroll in a major party, Geising said.

Along with the 7,091 Democrats, there are 1,309 registered Republicans, 6,073 unaffiliated and 157 people from other parties registered to vote in the November elections.

Only registered Democrats can vote in Wednesday’s election and the deadline has passed for anyone wishing to switch their party affiliation, such as from a Republican to a Democrat, for the primary.

Geising said he expects about 30 percent of registered Democrats to show up at the polls Wednesday, similar to the number who came out in 2011.

The 106 absentee ballots submitted as of Tuesday afternoon are a better indicator of overall interest in a race rather than support for one candidate, he said.

Of the 5,416 registered Democrats in 2011, 1,679 voted in the Democratic primary, or 31 percent.

That primary featured Finizio against Democratic nominee and City Councilor Michael Buscetto.

Finizio defeated Buscetto by a vote count of 1,108 to 744 and went on to become New London’s first elected mayor in recent history.

Geising said New London, since he started as registrar in 2005, has seen a dramatic uptick in the number of registered voters, from about 8,000 in 2005 to 14,630 as of Tuesday.

g.smith@theday.com

Twitter: @SmittyDay