Voters re-elect Waterbury state Reps. Stevens and Wood
Nov. 9, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti with Amelia Canney and Woody Laidlaw | Community News Service Editor’s note: This story was updated with final counts from the Secretary of State. Results will be certified next week.
Riding a wave of strong voter participation in Tuesday’s election, Waterbury state Reps. Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood prevailed in a four-way race to represent the Washington-Chittenden district in the Vermont House.
The two Democrats fended off challenges from Waterbury Republican Kathi Tarrant and Bolton Independent William McGorry. The incumbents were the top vote-getters across the district that covers Waterbury, Bolton, Huntington and Buel’s Gore.
Wood won the most votes with 3,364 or 36.2%; Stevens had 3,012 votes or 32.5%; Tarrant won 1,048 votes which was 11.3% and McGorry had 593 votes or 6.4%, according to results reported by town clerks across the district.
Turnout for the General Election was strong in all of the communities ranging from a high of 65.7% in Huntington/Buel’s Gore and 63% in Waterbury, according to the town results. Buel’s Gore residents vote in Huntington and their ballots are combined. Huntington has 1,744 registered voters and Buel’s Gore has just 29, explained Huntington Town Clerk Heidi Racht. On Tuesday, 1,147 voters cast ballots in Huntington.
Bolton Town Clerk and Treasurer Amy Grover said that the number of people voting in this election seemed to be “higher than average.” By the time the polls closed, 643 of the town’s 1,006 registered voters had cast ballots. Grover said about 350 ballots came in early.
The election gives Stevens an eighth term in the State House where he has been chair of the House Committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs. Wood’s re-election is to a fourth term. She has been vice chair of the House Committee on Human Services.
For many years, the district’s representatives have hailed from Waterbury despite other communities being included. Voter Harry Frank said he’s lived in Huntington for 35 years and he wishes his community had a representative in one of its legislative seats. “Over the time I’ve lived here, we’ve been lumped in with Waterbury and Duxbury,” Labelle said. “It feels like the town gets lumped in with other towns and overlooked.”
Town clerks said they received many early ballots after they were mailed to voters by the start of October. Waterbury Town Clerk Karen Petrovic said 1,899 votes came in before Tuesday – two-thirds of the 2,848 votes cast. Waterbury has 4,523 registered voters, according to the election tally.
From the candidates
“I am deeply honored with the trust voters have placed in me. I will continue to work for a Vermont that works for all of us.”
“I am grateful for the support of the voters in Waterbury, Bolton, Huntington and Buel’s Gore. It has been a privilege to have earned their trust over the years and I will continue to work hard to retain that trust this coming biennium. We have a lot to do, and I am excited to get going again in January.”
“I will continue in good faith to promote a better understanding as to what constitutes good government…In the end, WE THE PEOPLE are deserving of accountability and transparency from our elected officials. I will continue along on my quest in promoting that which upholds the general welfare as exemplified in the U.S. Constitution.”
“Thanks to the people who supported me. I hope my message of the preservation of our individual and constitutional rights will be a future goal in Vermont and the country.”
Some just really like voting in person
Kyle Duffy votes at Brookside Primary School gym on Tuesday. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Town clerks fielded a significant number of requests for ballots at the polls which required voters to sign an affidavit to attest they had not voted previously. Racht said about 300 voters fell into that category. “There’s a certain group of people who enjoy getting their ballot without having to ask for it,” she said. “For others, coming to the polls is a chance to see people. It’s all about community.”
Huntington voter Janet Labelle said it’s important to her that she shows up to perform her civic duty. “Voting is important,” Labelle said. “I want my kids and grandkids to know that.”
The state of Vermont shifted to mailing voters ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic and last spring, the Legislature passed a law making mailed ballots the norm for general elections going forward.
Inside the gym at Brookside Primary School in Waterbury late Tuesday, those who took the extra time to fill out their ballots on the spot said they preferred voting the traditional way. Kyle Duffy said he didn’t use the ballot he got in the mail. “I wanted to vote at the polls. I’m not sure I trust the mail-in process,” he said, adding, “I like seeing fellow town members.”
Racht agreed that elections are in part a social event. She noted that voting in person has its perks in Huntington. When she arrived at the Brewster Pierce School at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, she said she took cinnamon rolls out of the cafeteria refrigerator that the kitchen staff made the day before. “I put the dough on the table so it could start to rise,” she said. The staff came in soon afterward and took it from there. “They were ready by 7:15. They were two for $1. We sold three trays,” Racht said. “People love this kind of stuff.”
For Tamara Jacobsen, Tuesday’s in-person vote was her first time voting after becoming a U.S. citizen in June. Originally from Colombia, she said she has lived in Waterbury for the past five years. Voting with her husband, Cory Richardson, Jacobsen cast her first ballot in a U.S. election shortly before the polls closed. “I’m so excited today,” she said.
Local results track statewide choices
In other races on the ballot, local voters' choices tracked statewide results where Vermonters overwhelmingly elected the state’s first woman to serve in Congress. Brattleboro Democrat and state Sen. Becca Balint won the state’s lone U.S. House seat, becoming the state’s first woman ever elected to serve in Washington and the state’s first openly gay Congressional member.
Balint defeated Rockingham Republican Liam Madden and several other Independent and Libertarian contenders.
The House seat was up for grabs this year as U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., ran for the U.S. Senate seat that will open up as Sen. Patrick Leahy retires at the end of his current term. A Democrat from Norwich, Welch had nearly 67% of the vote and Gerald Malloy, a Republican from Weathersfield, had just over 27%, according to unofficial results reported on the Secretary of State on Wednesday.
The general election ballot included Vermont’s six statewide elected offices including Gov. Phil Scott who won re-election to a fourth term over much less-known Democratic/Progressive challenger Brenda Siegel of Newfane, 69% to 23%.
The tightest statewide race was for lieutenant governor won by former Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman of Hinesburg. The Progressive/Democrat held the office from 2017-2021. Zuckerman won just over 51% of the vote compared with his Republican opponent state Sen. Joe Benning of Lyndon who received 40.6%.
Other statewide winners included multiple Democratic candidates new to their positions: Charity Clark for attorney general; Mike Pieciak for state treasurer; Sarah Copeland Hanzas for secretary of state. Incumbent Democrat/Progressive state Auditor Doug Hoffer won re-election as well.
Closer to home was the Washington County state Senate contest with six candidates running for three seats. Voters re-elected Democratic Sen. Ann Cummings of Montpelier and Andrew Perchlik, a Democrat/Progressive from Marshfield, along with Montpelier Mayor Anne Watson, also a Democrat/Progressive, from the field. The Senate district was redrawn this year to cover Washington County along with Stowe in Lamoille County and Orange and Braintree in Orange County.
Waterbury Town Clerk Karen Petrovic, former Town Clerk Carla Lawrence and Assistant Town Clerk Beth Jones in the final hour of voting on Election Day. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Also on the ballot were two proposed amendments to the Vermont Constitution, both of which won strong approval from voters both statewide and locally. With 89% of the state’s precincts reporting, an amendment to Article 1 of the constitution clarifying Vermont’s ban on slavery had over 81% of the vote. A separate question to add an Article 22 to the constitution to guarantee reproductive liberty had over 72% of the vote, according to the secretary of state’s website.
People voting on the latter felt strongly in their views. Geri Dillon of Waterbury opposed the proposal outright. Fellow Waterbury resident Mariah Hostetter said it was a priority. “It’s important to advocate for the right to have an abortion or the right to have a choice, and I was happy to see that Vermonters are trying to protect those rights,” Hostetter said.
Voter Meg Mass in Huntington said economic issues were important to her voting choices but that the constitutional questions were especially key. Mass said she “wouldn’t skip voting, especially with the propositions on the ballot.”
Community News Service is a collaboration with the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program. CNS reporters Amelia Canney and Woody Laidlaw visited the polls in Bolton, Huntington and Waterbury on Election Day.
Complete Waterbury election results are below. Find up-to-date statewide results on the Vermont Secretary of State’s election website.
