Editor’s note: This article by Chris Mays was first published in the Brattleboro Reformer on Oct. 28, 2016.
BRATTLEBORO — Early voting is popular in the Green Mountain State.
“It was changed from absentee to early voting, in other words no excuse needed, some time in the ’90s,” Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos said. “From the ’90s through the 2000s, it’s been increasing substantially.”
During a mid-term election in 2014 with no presidential or United States Senate contests, 33,400 people voted by absentee or early ballots.
In 2012, 76,000 Vermonters used those ballots to vote. Condos believes the state will reach that number this election.
As of Monday, there were 53,693 requests for early and absentee ballots. Returned were 29,729. All ballots need to go back to town clerks by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 8.
“Since Oct. 1, we’ve been averaging about 2,000 new requests for absentee or early ballots per day,” said Condos. “It starts 45 days before the election.”
The number of registered voters in Vermont hit 462,693 on Monday morning, a new record for the state. On Sept. 30, the number was at 457,000. During the presidential election in 2012, the number hit 461,690, the previous high.
When President Barack Obama ran for the first time in 2008, Vermont saw the highest number of early and absentee ballots returned: 94,664.
Dover had 154 requests for early voting ballots. The town tends to get about 200 requests during presidential elections with high turnouts.
“We have approximately 1,200 people on our voter checklist,” said Dover Town Clerk Andy McLean. “Usually, absentee numbers are right around 25 percent of total turnout for elections like this in Dover.”
This year marks the first time Condos’ office can get a total before election night results are in. New technology makes the data available.
“We started Sept. 23 and we’ve had 1,700 early voters so far, which is significant,” Brattleboro Town Clerk Annette Cappy said. “About 750 of them have come through the office. The remainder had ballots. I suspect before early voting closes, we’ll probably have 2,600 people — even close to 3,000 — that have voted early.”
Many new residents are registering before the election, Cappy said. In the last six weeks, 300 people have done so.
Although it changes every day, the voter check list was at about 8,500 on Wednesday. Residents have until Nov. 2 to register.
In Brattleboro, participation in presidential elections is much higher than local ones, Cappy said, and early voting is substantially higher. During the March elections, between 500 and 800 people had voted early.
In 2012, Brattleboro had 6,000 voters or 65 percent of its checklist come out for the election. Just over 2,000 of them voted early, meaning about 38 percent of registered voters. “People really, really like voting early,” Cappy said. “We still have some diehards who like to come in on Election Day, which is good because we don’t like to have nothing to do that day.”
This year, the polling station has changed to the Carl M. Dessaint Veterans of Foreign War Post 1034 at 40 Black Mountain Road due to a turnout that’s expected to be larger than usual. This election is the only one being planned there for now. Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Polling will return to the Municipal Center for future elections.
“We did research holding the election in other places. But when we weighed all the factors, the VFW came out on top for items we felt were important,” Cappy said. “It’s very accessible. The parking is very good. Parking at the high school is good when school is not in session. School is in session so parking will be at a premium. Because of high usage of the gym, we can’t get in until 9 a.m.”
People will take advantage of the 7 a.m. opening, Cappy said. A line tends to form at that time.
About 10 percent of the residents on Vernon’s voter checklist had participated in early voting, meaning about 180 voters.
“People are coming in,” Town Clerk Tim “Johnson” Arsenault said. “Everyone seems to want to vote early and this is above what we’ve seen in recent years.”
He said he has added 50 voters to the checklist since the primary election in August.
Wilmington Town Clerk Susie Haughwout said she has heard about other Vermont towns on track to have 20 or 21 percent of their voter checklist participate by early voting. She’s seeing about half that in her town.
“For a general election, I think this is the lowest total number of voter registrations in Wilmington since I’ve been clerk and it’s about 100 fewer than 2012,” said Haughwout, who has served in the position for over 20 years. “We are getting new registrations every day but I don’t think we’ll catch up to the 2012 total.”
In 2012, the checklist included 1,648 voters. As of Wednesday, the number was at 1,536.
A total of 225 absentee ballots were returned in 2012. As of Wednesday, Haughwout had 166 requests and 114 returned.
“I’m not sure we’re going to get to the same level returned in 2012. But we have over 110 fewer voters,” Haughwout said, noting that ski towns like Wilmington and Dover had lost about 350 people between 2000 and 2010, according to census data. “We might not equal the actual returned absentee ballots from 2012 but we’re tracking pretty close.”
An incumbent president and incumbent governor were running in 2012. This year, there’s no incumbents in those fields.
Haughwout is expecting to see about 800 residents at the polls, which would be a little higher turnout than 2012. The gymnasium inside the Twin Valley Elementary School on Route 100 will be the polling place. People stationed at the entrance toward the upper parking lot will help guide voters to the gym. If accessibility is an issue, there will be a separate area for people to cast their votes.
Haughwout suggested the possibility of many voters in Vermont deciding to write in the name of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who failed in his bid for president. That could mean a lot of hand counting for the Board of Civil Authority.
“I don’t know what the Bernie Sanders supporters will do,” Haughwout said. “I do expect there will be a number of Bernie loyalists writing his name in. At the end of the day, how does that affect the race? We have three electoral votes.”
She said she thinks most clerks are preparing to make sure those write-ins are tabulated.
“My personal opinion: it would be very interesting to see if he won in the state over candidates on the ballot,” Haughwout said. “It’s always possible I suppose but I’m not necessarily expecting it.”
Brattleboro’s Cappy said she would be surprised if she didn’t see some ballots containing Sanders’ name.
