It appears registered Newtown voters are turning out in record numbers this Election Day.

As of 2:30 pm, Tuesday, November 3, more than three out of every four eligible Newtown voters had cast ballots.

In the 3 o’clock hour alone, turnout increased by 4%, from 76 to just over 80 percent. At that rate, with many people still expected to vote on their way home after work or during the final hours of today’s polling, the percentage could increase another 16 percentage points by 8 pm, to 96%.

Residents in Newtown are invited to vote for their US Congressional Representative, State Senator, State Representative, Registrar of Voters, and are being asked to weigh in on whether the Fairfield Hills Master Plan should include a residential option.

They are also joining voters across the country endorsing the person who will serve as President of the United States for the next four years.

Democratic Registrar of Voters LeReine Frampton told The Newtown Bee during a Friday Forums segment on October 30 that the average turnout for a presidential election is 90 percent.

As of 3:35 Tuesday afternoon, 15,439 voters of the town’s 19,360 eligible voters had cast ballots. That puts turnout at 79.71 percent.

The Town Clerk’s Office had received more than 6,000 returned absentee ballots by late last week, Republican Registrar of Voters Erica Canfield said during The Bee’s virtual webcast.

Those absentee votes are included in the number of votes cast as of this afternoon.

While the number of absentee ballots received has been calculated, the registrars, along with a team of volunteers, will not begin tallying the individual votes until after polls close at 8 pm, Frampton said.

To keep up with the latest poll numbers, visit the registrar’s page on the Town of Newtown website. And for all the 2020 election follow-up, continue visiting newtownbee.com or pick up this week’s print edition, published Thursday afternoon.