Reminder to voters: Confirm mailing address for Nov. ballots
Aug. 27, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti
With just over 10 weeks to go before the Nov. 8 General Election, Vermonters are reminded to be sure their snail-mail addresses are up to date on their voter registration information.
That’s because once again, the Secretary of State’s office will be mailing out ballots to every registered voter this fall.
“Whether you plan to vote early in-person, by mail, or at the polls on Election Day, ensuring your voter registration information is up to date will prevent any delays in receiving the ballot that is mailed to you,” said Secretary of State Jim Condos, calling ballots mailed to voters “secure and effective.”
Success with the ballots-by-mail method during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic led to Codos requesting that the Legislature allow for mailed distribution for general elections going forward.
Voter participation for the 2020 General Election, which also was a presidential election, hit a record high participation, of 74% percent, breaking a record set in 2008 when nearly 68% voted in the November election, according to state records.
This spring, lawmakers obliged and passed Act 60 which received tri-partisan support.
“I want to thank the Vermont legislators who worked with us to create a universal ballot mailing process that works for Vermont,” Condos said. “Vermont is proof that when you remove barriers to voting for eligible voters, they do.”
Any voter who has moved or changed their address since the 2020 election should update their information on file so that their ballot reaches them at their current mailing address.
Voters can update or just check their information with their town clerk by phone, email or in person. It’s also possible to update that record electronically on the MyVoterPage section of the Secretary of State’s website.
Important: Any changes need to be done soon. The state will be gathering addresses from voter records in early September.
Act 60 says that mailing of the ballots should begin no later than 43 days before the election and be completed by Oct. 1. Voters will receive instructions on how to mark and return the ballot and a postage-paid envelope to return it. The state will cover all mailing costs.
Ballots that are delivered to an old address are not forwarded. Any ballot that lands at the wrong address will be delivered to the town clerk in that town.
Voters may mark their ballot at their leisure until Election Day. They can mail them back to their town or city clerk, being sure to give them enough time to. Or they can drop them off in person at their municipal offices which have secure ballot drop boxes.
And for those who just like to go to the polls on Election Day, it’s perfectly fine to wait until Nov. 8 to drop off the completed ballot at the polls. Ballots returned after the polls close, however, are not counted.
In the last decade, Vermont has enacted a number of voter-access laws, making it one of the most “voter-friendly” states in the country according to several rankings.
Vermont was listed as first in the nation for election administration in 2020 and 2016 by MIT’s Election Performance Index, a well-regarded, data-driven measure of state election administration performance, Condos’ office noted.