WESTPORT — The votes are in, and final results show early voting emerged as a big winner in this year’s general election.

About half of Westport’s registered voters who cast ballots in this year’s presidential, congressional and state legislative elections did so during the two-week, early-voting period leading up to the “official” Election Day on Nov. 5.

It marked the state’s first general election with early voting — from Oct. 21 to Nov. 3 — drawing 8,061 registered Westport voters to the polls. It was possible because of a change approved to the state Constitution by voters in 2022. Voters in the state’s presidential and congressional primaries earlier this year also were able to take advantage of early-voting periods, although the number of days allotted was shorter than the period leading up to the Nov. 5 general election.

On Wednesday, the Board of Selectwomen approved a state grant of $7,544 to help defray the costs for early voting. 

During the early-voting period, ballots were cast only at Town Hall and not the town’s usual five polling stations.

“There’s a whole new era of voting these days and the money shall be used for early voting equipment and software which we greatly need,” Democratic Registrar of Voters Deborah Greenberg, joined by Republican Registrar Maria Signore, told the selectwomen.

“I want to publicly thank you and your deputies for conducting a seamless, safe, fair election — over two weeks of an election,” First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker said to the registrars.

“Access to the ballot was unprecedented. Thank you on behalf of all of your voters.”

Selectwoman Andrea Moore agreed that early voting had gone smoothly. She heard numerous compliments from voters about the early-voting process, she said, “and how easy it was to vote … nobody had a complaint.”