Norwich ― Turnout was at 5.7% at noon in today’s special election to decide whether an ordinance governing automatic aid between the city’s paid and volunteer fire departments should remain in place.

The city registrars’ office reported that almost 1,200 of the city’s 20,931 registered voters had cast ballots at noon today.

Volunteer firefighters petitioned the ordinance, passed narrowly by the City Council Dec. 5 in a 4-3 vote, to a special election. Voting “yes” supports retaining the ordinance governing automatic aid, while a “no” vote is to reject the ordinance and revert to an administrative policy set in place Nov. 1 setting the automatic aid criteria.

Polls will be open until 8 p.m.

c.bessette@theday.com