Hartford — Connecticut's upcoming presidential primary will be the first time in state history that there will be extra days of early voting — including a Saturday — and Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas announced on Tuesday that the 169 towns and cities are ready.

But Thomas warned that with each voter checked-in on the state's computerized registration system, registered Republicans and Democrats may have to wait longer than usual during the four-day early voting period of March 26, 27, 28, and 30.

"Remember this is a new form of voting, so we have to have new expectations," Thomas said, stressing that there are 46 other states that have some form of early voting.

Speaking to reporters in her State Capitol office, Thomas noted that in 2022, more than 60 percent of state voters approved an amendment to the state Constitution on early voting and that last session the General Assembly approved a framework of four days of early voting for presidential primaries and special elections, seven days for other primaries and 14 days for general elections. Next week voting hours at the polls will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the four extra days, while Primary Election Day on Tuesday April 2 will have traditional voting hours from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

"Our elections division and our IT division have literally been working around-the-clock to write the processes, test the system, make sure we have the technology in place to allow for early voting, and I have nothing but gratitude for the hundreds of registrars of voters and town clerks who have helped participate and make early voting what it will be," Thomas said. "Without them our election simply would not happen."

Most voters will likely cast their early ballots in their local town and city halls, so it will be important for Republicans and Democrats — unaffiliated voters are not allowed to vote in the closed party primaries — to look up where they may participate in early voting on the Secretary of the State's website.

"You do not want to go to your normal polling place, and there may be lines," Thomas said. "Even if you don't typically experience lines, it is a slightly longer process because it's a live process. Every voter has to be looked up individually. And, also, registrars are doing this for the first time, using new spaces, so there may be some little bumps in the road."

Unaffiliated voters who want to cast a vote during the early voting period may do so if they claim party affiliation in person with the registrar of voters or town clerk in the town where they live by noon, March 25. Unaffiliated voters may also vote on Election Day if they register with a party by April 1 at noon with the registrar of voters or town clerk in the town of residence.

The deadline to change from one party to another in order to vote in this primary has passed. That includes the Independent Party, which some young or newcomer residents don't realize is an actual political party in this state, Thomas told the legislative Government and Administrative Elections Committee earlier this week. Unlike general elections, there is no same-day or Election Day registration available for primaries.

Thomas said Tuesday that even though President Joe Biden and former president Republican Donald Trump have already locked up the number of delegates needed from around the nation to win their presidential nominations, she hopes Connecticut party members cast votes anyway to "stress test" the early voting system for the next time.

"We want to make sure registrars have more data to shore up the system in advance of our high-turnout elections later this year," Thomas said.

Patricia Spruance, president of the Connecticut Town Clerks Association, said Tuesday that her members are ready for early voting. "I'm not aware of any incidents," said Spruance, who is the Windham town clerk, in a phone interview. "But it's uncharted waters."

Chris Prue, president of the Registrar of Voters Association of Connecticut, agreed Tuesday that his members are also ready. He said that for early voting, ballot officials will have direct computer lines to the statewide voter database. "There were dedicated members of the secretary of the state's team and the vendor" that took care of the preparations, said Prue, the Democratic registrar for the town of Vernon. "It's a completely separate network from the towns. If there were problems, they just need another ethernet cord."

"We are prepared," said Ann Newberry, the Republican registrar of voters for Farmington. "We have our ballots. The setup is done. There are no worries here."

Some towns needed more funding to hardwire the Centralized Voter Registration System, while others needed to hire more poll workers, Thomas said. In the past, poll workers could rely on printed books of voters and their addresses, but for early voting the centralized system needs to confirm voters, hence the potential for added time to cast ballots after workers check voter registration on laptop computers, she said. "The real time lookup is important," Thomas added.

She said she heard from about two towns that might have had trouble linking up with the registration system through a hardline. "Depending on how that line is run, it could vary," Thomas said. "We don't have jurisdiction over that, but we did receive funding to help offset that cost for towns if they needed additional IT infrastructure in order to implement early voting. Towns were calling us about IT changes, but those changes have to go through their town's IT department and whoever runs that line, in some cases Frontier, et cetera. I think that's all been worked out now, but I think it was just too many cooks in the kitchen."

Voter information can be found at myvote.ct.gov.