Vermont lawmakers plan to pass legislation in January that will allow towns to send Town Meeting Day ballots to residents via mail, or postpone the date that voting takes place.
The proposal, which lawmakers are poised to send to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk within the first two weeks of the legislative session, would also give school officials the same flexibility for budget votes, which also typically happen in person.
The proposed legislation comes after Vermont temporarily expanded its statewide mail-in voting system for the November general election to mitigate health risks during the Covid-19 crisis.
It also comes after the governor said in November that he believes municipalities should send residents Town Meeting Day ballots via mail in 2021, as the pandemic continues.
Town Meeting Day is March 2, and Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, told a joint meeting of the House and Senate Government Operations Committees on Friday that she hoped the legislation could reach Scott’s desk by Jan. 19 — two weeks after the legislative session begins.
“There’s probably never been a bill that’s passed in such a short time frame, but I think that that is what we have to do,” said White, who chairs the Senate panel.
White said some towns, including Dummerston, would like to hold in-person votes, but want to wait until the spring when they can hold socially distanced meetings outdoors.
In addition to giving town officials the ability to conduct elections via mail, the bill would give officials the option to push back the date for in-person votes.
“Some towns may want to have their Town Meeting in March, and mail out ballots … some may want to change the date to May,” White said.
“I see this as permissive rather than as telling towns what to do,” she said.
Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, raised concerns about postponing votes on school budgets in 2021, noting that the Legislature needs to know what school spending is going to look like in the upcoming fiscal year before it can set property tax rates.
Lawmakers and the governor are facing a possible 9% increase in property taxes next year, unless they take action in the upcoming session.
“We can’t set that rate until we know what the school spending is going to be, and the school spending is determined by those folks. It’s sort of a Catch-22,” Clarkson noted.
But White said lawmakers should “have faith” that town officials will vote on school budgets before lawmakers adjourn in May.
“They’re not going to set their town meetings for August or September because that’s too late. Probably May is around the latest that I can imagine any town would do it,” White said.
Kendal Smith, Scott’s director for policy and legislative affairs, told legislators Friday that the governor is “actively considering” plans to include the funding for Town Meeting Day mail-in ballots in his upcoming budget proposal or budget adjustment proposal for the current fiscal year.
Smith said that the cost would likely be $1 million to $2 million.
Montpelier Town Clerk John Odum said he expects voter participation will soar in municipalities that conduct Town Meeting by mail. In November, Vermont’s expanded vote-by-mail system drove a new turnout record.
“Historically, with states like ours, the municipal local elections have a lower turnout, the general elections have a higher turnout. With all mail, they equalize,” Odum said.
Lawmakers appeared in agreement Friday that they should move forward with the plans to give municipalities added flexibility for Town Meeting Day when they return in January.
“We’re in a worse situation today with the pandemic than we were back in the spring, or certainly earlier in the fall when this was all happening,” said Rep. Jim Harrison, R-North Chittenden.
“And we should do everything we can to encourage mail balloting for this election, and then hopefully we’re beyond that later in the spring and then we can talk about how to go forward in the future,” he added.
Lawmakers also plan to give Brattleboro the ability to once again hold its town meeting remotely, via Zoom.
Brattleboro is the only municipality in the state that has a “representative” town meeting system in which 150 residents are elected to represent town residents.
The town held its first remote town meeting earlier this year.
