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Stamford Wins Award For High Voter Turnout

STAMFORD, Conn. — The city of Stamford was awarded the Democracy Cup for its citywide voter turnout of 71.6 percent on this year's Election Day.

Almost 72 percent of voters in Stamford went to the polls on  Election Day.

Almost 72 percent of voters in Stamford went to the polls on Election Day.

Photo Credit: Anthony Buzzeo

“We saw a very strong voter turnout of 74 percent of registered voters statewide on Election Day in 2012, despite the difficult challenges presented in our state by damage from Hurricane Sandy,” Denise Merrill, Connecticut's secretary of the state, said in a news release. “Yet, the voters in Stamford and the other communities who win the award this year really set an example for all of the voters in Connecticut of why elections and participating in democracy are important.”

The Democracy Cup was formed in 2000 and sponsored by the state and the East Haddam Civic Association to encourage voter participation, the release said.

Winners are chosen based on percentage of voter turnout, divided into four categories based on municipality size: Fewer than 5,000 voters is small town, 5,000 to 14,999 is considered mid-sized, 15,000 to 49,999 is large town, and more than 50,000 is city.

The other winners were Bridgewater for small town, Granby for mid-sized town, and Middletown for large town. Bridgewater had just under 95 percent turnout.

It is the fourth time Stamford received the award since 2008, the first year that the state’s cities had their own category, the release said. Waterbury received it in 2011 in the city category.

“Typically, while smaller municipalities have an easier time getting voters to the polls, urban centers, like Stamford, New Haven and Hartford, are gaining ground. This is a trend worth celebrating,"  Scot Mackinnon, co-founder of the Democracy Cup and East Haddam Civic Association member, said in the release.

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