Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Peter Dannenberg, a justice of the peace in Cabot, Vt.
Clattering knitting needles and muffled voices of chatting election officials on either side of me made a babble that echoed off cavernous school gym walls. It was Aug. 24, Primary Election Day.
I spent polling hours explaining why voters could not split their tickets across political parties and checking off departing voters. Then I helped tally votes—by hand. Vermont’s election law says exit checklists are optional; each Board of Civil Authority decides if they use them. Our town does, so sometimes I chase absentminded citizens who meander from voting booths without saying their names. The state says entrance and exit lists must agree, unless the town doesn’t want an exit checklist.
In 2010, Vermont moved its primary from September to August. A new federal law requires states give overseas voters 45 days to get absentee ballots and return them. Vermont wanted more time to print general election ballots after the primary. The date change also gives primary winners extra time to slug it out before Nov. 2.
Pundits predicted many voters would not vote because they didn’t know about the new date, but I got scores of phone, e-mail and snail mail messages to remind me.
National media was vague about Vermont. They announced that Alaska, Arizona, Florida and Vermont would hold primaries on the same day. Then they highlighted prominent races, but only for the other states. One might have imagined the biggest contest in Vermont was fence viewer. In fact, Vermonters nominated a U.S. senator, our sole U.S. representative, all six statewide officers, all 180 members of the state Legislature, state’s attorneys, assistant judges, probate judges, sheriffs, high bailiffs, and justices of the peace to stand for election on Nov. 2. Vermont nominates justices of the peace in party caucuses, meetings and by petition; their names are on general election ballots, but not primary ballots.
During the campaign, hopefuls were strangely civil when debating rivals from their own party. Candidates kept their padded kid gloves tightly laced.
Despite tepid debates, Vermont voters turned out in respectable numbers—for a primary. There are about 445,000 registered voters in Vermont; just over 98,000, roughly 22 percent, cast a primary ballot. Interest in a close race for governor among Democrats energized the party faithful enough to turn around the trend of declining primary turnouts since 2000. Since then, increasing numbers of Vermonters opt for absentee voting, instead of showing up in person.
Charges of chicanery in the 2000 Presidential Election led to the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Spurred on by the Act, states adopted different types of elaborate computerized voting, encouraged early voting and changed polling hours and dates.
This year, primary voters chose candidates on one of three major party ballots—Democratic, Progressive or Republican. Some always object. They want to split their choices among candidates from different parties; that’s not OK in Vermont primaries. A few stormed out without voting when told they couldn’t choose “one from column A and one from column B.”
Unlike some states, Vermont has no party registration. Presidential primaries are the only ones that require Vermonters to declare a political party preference, because federal law governs them.
Primary election laws vary wildly. Vermonters who moved to Washington State might feel like strangers in a strange land. Washington now has a “top two” primary; voters may vote for anyone, without regard to party. All candidates in a primary race are on the same ballot. Candidates may list any “party preference” or none. They may use a known party name or invent one. Recognized political parties have no say in this.
In Washington State, candidates represent themselves, not a party. The top two vote getters in each race, regardless of party, face off in the general election. To those used to more traditional primaries, “top two” sounds like a sudden death elimination that leads up to a championship fight. In theory, every candidate in the general election could “prefer” the same party. This does not apply to candidates for president and vice president of the U.S.
For statewide elections, Washington exclusively uses mail ballots in 38 of its 39 counties. Those counties automatically send absentee ballots to every registered voter. In Pierce County, citizens may request absentee ballots or vote at polls.
Voters mail their ballots back by Election Day and certify their identities on outer envelopes. Secret ballots are in sealed inner envelopes.
Washington State says voting by mail costs less and adds to turnout. Every new idea has critics, but democracy works better when more citizens vote.
I propose cash jackpots for lucky voters. People already line up to scratch off lottery tickets in the slim hope of winning prizes; they’ll vote for the same reason.
