Early/absentee ballots for the Primary Election to be held on August 14, are now available in Vermont town clerks’ offices. Anyone wishing to vote prior to August 14, may apply for an early/absentee ballot until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, August 13. Early/absentee ballots may be voted in person in the clerk’s office, mailed to the voter by the clerk’s office, picked up by the voter or if a voter is in need can be delivered to the voter’s residence by two Justices of the Peace. All ballots must be received by the clerk before the polls close on election day in order to be counted. For more information or to request an early/absentee ballot in Brattleboro call 251-8157. Sample ballots are available on the Brattleboro.org website, under elections.
Vermont has same day voter registration. However to save time on Election Day it is advisable to get all registration forms in to the Town Clerk’s office in advance, or register to vote by going online to olvr.sec.state.vt.us.
If you are unsure if your name is listed as a registered voter in your town or for more information about voter registration and early/absentee voting, contact your town clerk. In Brattleboro, call 251-8157.
Office hours for the Brattleboro Town Clerk’s office are 8:30AM – 5:00PM, Monday through Friday. In addition to regular hours, the office will open Saturday, August 11, from 9AM to noon for early voting and will be closed Tuesday, August 14, election day.
Voting in Brattleboro on August 14, will be held at the Municipal Center at 230 Main Street. Polling hours are 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
Hilary Francis
Brattleboro Town Clerk
230 Main Street, Suite 108
Brattleboro. VT 05301
hfrancis@brattleboro.org
ph 802-251-8129
fax 802-257-2312
With the regular caveat...
Know that if you vote early, you’re write-in votes might not be counted in Brattleboro.
Our relatively recent rules require all write-in candidates to register in advance, and only those posted on Election day can receive votes.
So, if you vote early, write in who you’d like to see in office, and they don’t register as a write-in, your vote isn’t counted.
…
To me, this completely defeats the purpose of a write-in vote.
A voter should be able to write in whomever they think would be the best person for the position, even if that person doesn’t want to be voted for. (They can always decline if they somehow won.) If I vote, that vote should be counted.
Anyone who registers officially, to me, isn’t a write-in candidate. They are an actual candidate, but one who has most likely skipped the requirements of getting signatures and participating in the more full election process of debates and interviews.
I went to the meetings where this rule was discussed and spoke against it. There was no good reason for it offered, other than it saved the Town Clerk a bit of time, but it was forwarded to Representative Town Meeting, who agreed to the change.
Selectboard member Tim Wessel has said that one of his goals is to return to the previous way of doing things. This requires a Charter change, and I hope representatives support it when it comes around.
We used to publish the list of write-ins here for every election. The lists were not filled with “Mickey Mouse” and silliness. The vast majority of results showed real names of real people in the community. Seeing one’s name on that list could be a surprise (wow, someone wanted me to be on the school board!), but it could also serve as a nudge, encouraging that write-in to consider running in the future. It was a healthy process!
For example, here are the write-in results from 2010:
https://wayback.archive-it.org/2350/20171119032603/http://www.ibrattleboro.com/article.php/2010030411083880
Free the vote!
Write-ins are essential to voting one’s conscience. Being forced to either vote for the offered or not vote at all is a good way to discourage voting.
Local elections
This applies to Brattleboro candidates for Brattleboro offices.
Write-ins for non-Brattleboro offices, I’m pretty sure, get counted. That would mean that if I wrote you in for President, my vote would count, but if I wrote you in as a Selectboard member, it wouldn’t. I think.
A single system where legitimate write-in names get counted universally would be simpler.