Vermont’s Primary Election Day is Tuesday, Aug. 13
August 10, 2024 | By Lisa Scagliotti
Waterbury voters will vote at Brookside Primary School on Tuesday, Aug. 13, for the Vermont Primary Election. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Tuesday is Vermont’s Primary Election Day when voters across the state will determine the Vermont candidates who will appear on the November 5 General Election ballot alongside the U.S. Presidential Election.
On the primary ballot for Vermont offices are candidates in races for every seat in the state legislature – 150 House members and 30 Senate seats – along with Vermont’s six constitutional offices of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor and treasurer. In addition, one of Vermont’s U.S. Senate seats —that held by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.—is on the ballot as well as Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., in the U.S. House. Neither Balint nor Sanders have primary challengers.
Few of the offices are contested at the primary level which makes those with races attractive to voters to weigh in. Vermont has an open primary system in that voters do not register with a party affiliation, nor must they declare a party to vote in the primary. When checking in, voters receive three ballots – Democratic, Progressive and Republican. They are instructed to choose just one to mark and to turn in the non-voted ballots.
Vermont also allows same-day registration so anyone new to the state or previously unregistered can complete their voter registration at the polls and cast their ballot on the same day.
Scroll down for the official warning for the Primary Election for more details on the voting process and sample ballots from each party.
Early voting is still available on Monday, Aug. 12, at town and city clerks’ offices around Vermont. Anyone who received an absentee ballot by mail also needs to turn in their ballot by 7 p.m. on election day for it to be counted. Town clerks advise those waiting until Tuesday to drop off such ballots at the polling places as their offices are often closed during an election.
Duxbury voters will cast ballots in the drive-through polling place set up outside the town office and highway garage on Tuesday, Aug. 13. File photo by Gordon Miller
Polling places are listed on the Vermont Secretary of State’s website. Hours and locations in the towns included in the local legislative districts are:
Waterbury - Brookside Primary School, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Duxbury - Drive-through at the town office, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Bolton - Smilie Memorial School, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Huntington - Brewster-Pierce School, 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Buel’s Gore voters also vote in Huntington)
Fayston - Municipal building, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Moretown - Town office, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Waitsfield - Waitsfield Elementary School, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Warren - Town hall, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Most contests on the Democratic ballot
A look at the sample ballots below will show no contests on the Progressive Party ballot. The lieutenant governor race is the only office with a choice on the Republican Party ballot between candidates John Rodgers of Glover and Gregory Thayer of Rutland City.
The Democratic Party ballot has the most contests: two choices each for governor (Esther Charlestin of Middlebury and Peter Duval of Underhill) and lieutenant governor, where Winooski City Councilor and Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner is challenging incumbent Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman of Hinesburg.
All three Democratic incumbent state senators are running for re-election in Washington County – Ann Cummings and Anne Watson of Montpelier, and Andrew Perchlik of Marshfield. They have one Republican challenger who will appear on the November ballot, Donald Koch of Barre Town.
Particularly for Waterbury voters, the main competition is for the Democratic spots on the November ballot in the race for the two state House seats representing the Washington-Chittenden district that covers Waterbury, Bolton, Huntington and Buel’s Gore. Incumbent Reps. Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood, both from Waterbury, are on the primary ballot along with first-time candidate Elizabeth Brown, also from Waterbury. Brown this spring was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board until next March making this her first run for public office. Stevens, who chairs the House General and Housing Committee and Wood, chair of the House Human Services Committee, are running for re-election to their ninth and fifth two-year terms respectively. A fourth candidate – Waterbury resident and newcomer Jonathan Griffin is the sole Republican House candidate, ensuring him a spot on the November ballot.
Waterbury Town Clerk Karen Petrovic said early voting has been brisk. By late Friday afternoon, nearly 500 voters had already cast their ballots, Petrovic said. As of the June school budget vote, Waterbury had 4,435 registered voters.
Thursday, Aug. 8, was the deadline for Independent candidates wishing to get on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot to register with the Secretary of State’s office. One new candidate for the Washington-Chittenden district filed: James Haddad of Huntington. Waterbury Roundabout will include him in coverage following the primary.
See previous Roundabout coverage of the Washington-Chittenden primary race from June 6 (Waterbury’s House district gets a primary contest), June 10 (Local House race sparks record fundraising ahead of August primary), a July 17 candidate forum in Waterbury, and a July 30 candidate forum in Huntington. All of those posts are in the News section. The Opinion section has election-related letters and commentaries from the candidates and from community members.
Washington-2 House district
Readers in Duxbury and the Mad River Valley towns of Fayston, Moretown, Waitsfield and Warren are represented in the Vermont House by two reps in the Washington-2 district. That race has no primary competition although it’s shaping up to be contested in the November election.
Incumbent Rep. Dara Torre, D-Moretown, is running for a second term. Rep. Kari Dolan, D-Waitsfield, is not seeking re-election. Candice White, a Waitsfield Democrat, is on the ballot for the first time seeking the district’s second seat.
Two additional candidates filed with the Secretary of State this week to be added to the November ballot: Independent John Burns of Moretown and Eugene Bifano of Warren running as a Common Sense Party candidate. They will be included in the Roundabout’s General Election coverage.
VTDigger’s Election Guide
One resource for voters to learn more about the primary election process, voting, and candidate information and positions on some key issues – particularly those running for Vermont’s statewide offices – is the online Primary Election Guide assembled by VTDigger.
All of the Washington Senate candidates provided information for the VTDigger guide. In the local House races, only Tom Stevens in Washington-Chittenden and Candice White in Washington-2 have provided information.
Below are sample ballots for Tuesday’s Primary Election and the official warning posted by the Waterbury town clerk’s office. Click to enlarge. (Also find them online at waterburyvt.com/departments/clerk/voting.)
