Groton had issued 1,558 absentee ballots as of Monday, more than in each of the last two presidential elections, Town Clerk Betsy Moukawsher said.

The town provided ballots to 610 Democrats, 364 Republicans, 574 unaffiliated voters and 10 voters from other parties like the Green Party, she said.

"There's people coming out of the woodwork who have never voted in their life, who are 70 years old, (and are voting) because they have a strong opinion," said Kristen Venditti, Groton's Republican registrar of voters. "I mean, we went to supervise balloting at the convalescent homes and there were some people who were like, 'I need to vote. I need to vote this time.' They were adamant."

Some other towns also reported an increase in absentee ballots. Norwich had issued 879 absentee ballots, and received 725 back as of Friday. New London had received 530 absentee ballots as of Monday, or 3.4 percent of the total eligible voters. The number is on par with past presidential elections, according to the registrar's office.

People are eligible to vote by absentee ballot if they are active members of the armed forces, will be out of town during all the hours of voting on Election Day, have an illness or physical disability that prevents them from voting in person, or will be working as an election official at a polling place other than their own for all of the voting hours.

Groton is home to the Naval Submarine Base and many military families, but Moukawsher said most absentee ballots are not coming from military personnel overseas. Rather, ballots are coming from many voters who have already left the area for the winter, and others who are sick or disabled, she said.

"The election is later this year," Moukawsher said. "The first day of November started on a Wednesday, so this is the latest an election can ever be." Presidential elections always generate more absentee ballots because some people only vote during presidential elections, she added.

Yet this year's number exceeds those issued during the last two presidential elections. Groton issued 1,241 absentee ballots in 2012, and 1,470 in 2008.

Counters can't begin opening ballots until Election Day. Ballots collected as of Monday were separated by voting district, stored in cases, and locked in a vault in the Town Clerk's office.

The registrar of voters office has pre-checked about 900 ballots that have come back, checking ballots against active voter lists.

"We didn't finish them on Friday so we went back on Saturday," said Venditti, who worked from 8:30 a.m. until midnight on Friday, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturday and from 1 p.m. until 1 a.m. on Sunday.

The town will set up central counting of absentee ballots in the cafeteria at Robert E. Fitch High School, Moukawsher said. The registrar's office typically hires six to eight people to count absentee ballots if they expect a large turnout in a presidential election. This year, they hired 10, Venditti said.

In some towns, like Preston, with 138 ballots, and Montville, with 362, the numbers were typical of previous elections.

Barbara McGrath, East Lyme's Democratic registrar of voters, said Monday morning that, as of last count, 1,106 absentee ballots have been issued for East Lyme, with approximately 150 still outstanding.

Absentee ballots represented 446 votes in East Lyme during the 2014 election and 1,203 votes during the last presidential election in 2012, according to the Secretary of the State's website.

McGrath said the ballots will be counted in the activity room next to the registrar's office. An absentee moderator, and two teams of two checkers will verify the ballots. They will begin at 1 p.m. Tuesday, and probably work through the remainder of the day.

Lyme and Old Lyme reported a higher number of absentee ballots than in 2014 and 2012.

"It's heavier this year than any other time," said Eileen Coffee, the town clerk in Old Lyme, where more than 600 absentee ballots have been issued.

In Old Lyme, absentee ballots represented 234 votes in 2014 and 566 votes during the last presidential election in 2012, according to the Secretary of the State’s website. 

Lyme issued 193 absentee ballots, and 182 ballots had been returned so far, Kathy Gigliotti, Lyme’s Republican registrar of voters, said Monday afternoon.

In Lyme, absentee ballots represented 66 votes in 2014 and 147 votes in 2012, according to the Secretary of the State’s website.

Day Staff Writers Claire Bessette, Greg Smith, Martha Shanahan and Kimberly Drelich contributed to this story.

d.straszheim@theday.com