This post contains photos by Mike Dougherty, Anna Watts, Justin Trombly, Emma Cotton and Kevin O’Connor.
Red, white and blue voting booths, stacks of ballots, bowls of “I Voted” stickers: the usual symbols of Election Day were present at Vermont polling places on Tuesday. But face shields, plexiglass barriers, masks and bottles of hand sanitizer were also commonplace, as election workers labored to protect themselves and their constituents from the spread of Covid-19.
All of the state’s 275 polling places were open Tuesday, though a majority of voters chose to complete their ballots early. In-person voting sites ranged from town offices with signage promoting social distancing, to drive-through operations where voters never left their cars. And sites doubled as processing centers for the tens of thousands of early ballots that poll workers had to tabulate by the end of the day.
Poll workers reported that voters were generally accepting of the additional safety measures — and voters concurred. “Everything is a pain, but you do it,” said Irma Heeter, 82, who voted in Vergennes. “You just do it. It’s part of our patriotic duty to vote.”
