Almost three-quarters of Vermont’s 246 municipalities will replace March town meeting rituals with Covid-19-safe elections, while about 40 are resuming in-person gatherings and 30 are rescheduling local debate and decisions until spring.
“We are mindful that residents have faced difficult times in conducting yearly business at town meetings since the 1780s,” the three-member Jericho Selectboard wrote in its decision to opt out this year. “We look forward to the days ahead when we can sit among neighbors and talk things out, face to face.”
Some 175 communities will vote on or around the traditional first Tuesday in March, using a pandemic-year state law that lets them replace official meetings with mailable secret ballots, according to a VTDigger survey.
All of Vermont’s 28 cities and towns with 5,000 or more people and 146 smaller communities will turn to ballots — and, in many cases, supplementary online information sessions — to decide local leaders, spending and special articles.
(The full list appears at the end of this story.)
Some 40 towns are aiming to hold some sort of in-person gathering. Addison, for example, has scheduled a floor meeting to formally receive annual reports from local leaders, then adjourn and vote on everything else by ballot.
“It’s going to be a short meeting,” Town Clerk Marilla Webb said. “Last year was 15 minutes tops.”
Pownal is set to do the same, while Kirby plans on opening its meeting, deciding whether to reelect half-century veteran moderator John McClaughry, and adjourn to May 7.
“This will be my 56th election if I can bribe and cajole enough voters to put me in again,” joked McClaughry, founder of the Ethan Allen Institute. “It’s worked so far.”
Athens will assemble to decide whether to meet or reschedule to a later date. Jay will move its usual school gathering to the more spacious volunteer fire department. Similarly, Mendon will assemble at the town garage, where masks will be required.
Granby, whose population of 81 is the state’s second smallest after neighboring Victory’s 70, will act on its entire agenda at its meeting — in part because only a dozen of its 50 registered voters usually show up.
“We have a small population and a big building, so we can easily go along with tradition,” Town Clerk Sheryl Brown said.
Other towns set to hold some sort of meeting include Albany, Arlington, Barnard, Bloomfield, Braintree (“no lunch though!” Town Clerk Jessica Brassard said), Brighton, Canaan, Charleston, Chelsea, Danby, Derby, Eden, Glover, Goshen, Irasburg, Lemington, Morgan, Mount Holly, Mount Tabor, Norton, Orange, Poultney, Readsboro, Ryegate, Sandgate, Searsburg, Stamford, Stratton, Sutton, Troy, Whiting, Williamstown, Winhall and Woodford.
Another 30 towns are postponing proceedings to when it’s warm enough to open windows or move outdoors.
Corinth and Sheffield, for example, are aiming to meet under tents May 17, while Tunbridge is scheduled to gather on its World’s Fair grounds May 21.
Other communities with calendar changes include:
Baltimore (June 7), Barnet (April 25), Belvidere (June 7), Brookfield (May 21), Brownington (March 22), Cavendish (March 28-29), Dover (tentatively mid-May), Granville (May 17), Halifax (May 3), Holland (May 21), Jamaica (April 2), Londonderry (April 30), Lowell (May 21), Ludlow (April 4-5), Pittsfield (May 3), Ripton (May 9-10), Rochester (March 28), Stannard (May 10), St. George (April 30), Stockbridge (March 22) Sudbury (date to be determined), Topsham (tentatively March 26), Vershire (May 22), Wardsboro (May 21), Waterford (tentatively April), Waterville (June 7) and Weston (April 5).
Adding to the confusion: Municipalities and their school districts aren’t necessarily voting on the same day or in the same way.
Vernon, for example, is set to cast ballots on local leaders, its school budget and two marijuana questions March 1 and then consider the rest of its agenda at an outdoor meeting May 1.
Westminster will vote on some articles March 1 and decide the rest at a meeting April 30, either inside a bay of its fire station or in a backyard across the street, depending on the weather.
As a result, election officials are urging Vermonters to check both the timing of all municipal and school meetings and votes and whether they have to request an absentee ballot or will receive one automatically.
Communities hoped to return to business as usual this winter before the state’s coronavirus cases hit record highs with the arrival of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
“The citizens of Vermont should be able to protect their health, safety, and welfare,” the temporary state law allowing meeting changes says, “while also continuing to exercise their right to participate in annual municipal meetings.”
The legislation permits online public information hearings but mostly prohibits official town meetings on video conferencing platforms out of concern that organizers don’t have the ability to open participation to all locals yet close it to outsiders who aren’t eligible to vote.
(Brattleboro is the only locality the state has allowed to debate and make decisions electronically, as its one-of-a-kind meeting of elected representatives is the sole one that can limit Zoom participation to official members and let everyone else watch on public access television.)
Some 80% of communities used a similar pandemic-year state law in 2021 to replace shoulder-to-shoulder decision-making with ballot voting. Most of the rest tapped the same legislation to reschedule proceedings until warmer weather.
Only a half-dozen small towns held in-person meetings in March 2021, with each having little on the agenda or being gaveled in for the sole purpose of adjourning to a later date.
The change to ballots increased voting in some communities.
“Last year we had the largest participation probably in the town’s history,” said Danville Town Clerk Wendy Somers, who had mailed ballots to all active voters.
Marlboro Town Clerk Forrest Holzapfel saw his numbers “almost double, which calls into question how inclusive the in-person traditional floor vote actually is.”
But not communities benefited. Killington sent postcards so residents could request absentee ballots and kept its polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“In spite of all our efforts, our participation was the poorest I can recall for a town meeting vote,” Town Clerk Lucrecia Wonsor said. “We are hopeful there will be a better turn out this year.”
The 28 most populated cities and towns set to cast ballots are, in alphabetical order, Barre City, Barre Town (which also holds an annual meeting in May), Bennington, Brattleboro (which also holds an annual meeting later in March), Burlington, Colchester, Essex, Fairfax, Hartford, Jericho, Lyndon, Middlebury, Milton, Montpelier, Morristown, Northfield, Rutland City, Shelburne, South Burlington, Springfield, St. Albans City, St. Albans Town, St. Johnsbury, Stowe, Swanton, Waterbury, Williston and Winooski.
Other communities voting on paper this March town meeting season are:
Alburgh, Andover, Bakersfield, Barton, Benson, Berkshire, Berlin, Bethel, Bolton, Bradford, Brandon, Bridgewater, Bridport, Bristol, Brookline, Brunswick, Burke, Cabot, Calais, Cambridge, Castleton, Charlotte, Chester, Chittenden, Clarendon, Concord, Cornwall, Coventry, Craftsbury, Danville, Dorset, Dummerston, Duxbury, East Haven, East Montpelier, Elmore, Enosburgh, Fairfax, Fairfield, Fair Haven, Fairlee, Fayston, Ferrisburgh, Fletcher, Franklin, Georgia, Grafton, Grand Isle, Greensboro, Groton, Guildhall and Guilford.
Also, Hancock, Hardwick, Hartland, Highgate, Hinesburg, Hubbardton, Huntington, Hyde Park, Ira, Isle La Motte, Johnson, Killington, Landgrove, Leicester, Lincoln, Lunenburg, Maidstone, Manchester, Marlboro, Marshfield, Middlesex, Middletown Springs, Monkton, Montgomery, Moretown, Newark, Newbury, Newfane, New Haven, Newport City, Newport Town, North Hero, Norwich, Orwell, Panton, Pawlet, Peacham, Peru, Pittsford, Plainfield, Plymouth, Pomfret, Proctor, Putney, Randolph, Reading, Richford, Richmond, Rockingham, Roxbury, Royalton, Rupert and Rutland Town.
Also, Salisbury, Shaftsbury, Sharon, Sheldon, Shoreham, Shrewsbury, South Hero, Starksboro, Strafford, Sunderland, Thetford, Tinmouth, Townshend, Underhill, Vergennes, Victory, Waitsfield, Walden, Wallingford, Waltham, Warren, Washington, Weathersfield, Wells, West Fairlee, Westfield, Westford, West Haven, Westmore, West Rutland, West Windsor, Weybridge, Wheelock, Whitingham, Wilmington, Windham, Windsor, Wolcott, Woodbury, Woodstock and Worcester.
