Voters were able to go to election polls early for the first time in Connecticut history.

Early voting for the presidential primaries began on Tuesday and runs through Thursday, with an additional day on Saturday.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff and State Rep. Travis Simms and Secretary of the state Stephanie Thomas were at the Norwalk City Hall on Tuesday to take part in historic early voting and to say Connecticut is keeping step with a national trend.

Norwalk voter Tina Duryea said early voting in Connecticut comes at the perfect time.

"When you only have a small window to vote in you don't have the same voter turnout you have if you have a wider window and so this is so important that we got more people to vote because in a democracy you want more people to vote," Duryea said.

"Whether you have a last-minute emergency, child care issues, caregiver issues, now you can choose -- you can have your say, your day," said Thomas.

Thomas says early voting polling locations could differ from where a person normally goes to vote on Election Day.

Local voter registrars are requesting more funds to hire extra staff to manage the early voting process. However, state lawmakers are divided on this proposal.

"They need a lot more money to do this program. I'm going to be visiting the town halls that I represent to see how the roll out just the primary early voting," says state Rep. Vin Candelora (R), House minority leader.

"We've been pretty good about providing towns and cities with additional revenue over the last couple of years. So, at some point, they need to just figure this out as well," counters state Rep. Jason Rojas (D), House majority leader.

Democratic leaders indicate that it's unlikely local registrars will receive the additional $5 million they're requesting.