Vermont announces candidates for 2024 presidential primaries

December 22, 2023  |  By Babette Stolk  |  VTDigger.org

Election worker Linda Sheehey guides a voter at the polling place at the Mater Christi School Burlington on Town Meeting Day on March 7. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

When they show up for Town Meeting Day in March, Vermonters will be able to choose from a dozen presidential candidates in the 2024 election — half running as Democrats and half as Republicans.

The parties’ frontrunners, President Joe Biden and former president Donald J. Trump, were among the 12 candidates who met a deadline last Friday afternoon to be included on Vermont’s ballots, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas announced Tuesday. 

Other candidates on the GOP ballot are businessman Ryan Binkley; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley; and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. 

On the Democratic side, contenders are businessman and former lawyer Mark Steward Greenstein; entrepreneur and investor Jason Palmer; U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn.; author and public speaker Marianne Williamson; and political commentator and media host Cenk Uygur. 

Uygur’s name will not appear on the ballot in a number of other states, including neighboring New Hampshire, because he was not born in the United States, which would make his presidency unconstitutional. In Arkansas, for instance, the secretary of state listed that as a reason Uygur’s name would not appear on its ballot, the Associated Press reported. 

Bryan Mills, chief of staff of the Vermont secretary of state’s office, said the state “does not have legal authority or authorization to conduct inquiries into a candidate’s qualifications to serve in the office they are seeking.” 

He said the office’s “role, as directed by statute, is to place any person’s name on the ballot if that person files the requisite number of signatures, consent form, and filing fee required by law.” 

In a press release, the secretary of state’s office reminded voters that they must choose one ballot — Democratic or Republican — and that, unlike in general elections, voters will not automatically receive ballots in the mail. They can request ballots through the secretary of state’s website or by contacting their town or city clerk.

Town Meeting Day will be held on March 5, coinciding with Super Tuesday primaries in 14 other states. 

This article was originally published on VTDigger.org.

Read a commentary from Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland-Hanzas regarding the potential impact of the Colorado Supreme Court decision here.