CRAFTSBURY, WOLCOTT, WOODBURY – From town to town, the election day process varies in length, difficulty and turnout. Town clerks, election officials and other contributors work to ensure the process is fair, accurate, and importantly, efficient. While each polling center must abide by state and federal regulations while performing the process, election day looks a little different for every polling place.
A few common themes were in evidence at the Woodbury, Wolcott and Craftsbury polls for the Tuesday general election. Forgotten ballots and various voter registration woes popped up across the board, as poll workers did their best to serve their respective towns.
Town Clerk Robin Durkee said voter turnout in Woodbury was up this election, especially walk-ins. They also had a surge of mail-in ballots; an increase from the last election. “We had 366 mail-in ballots this year,” she said
According to Durkee, the voter verification process is similar to other municipalities. “They have to state their first and last name, and if we don’t recognize them we ask for I.D.”
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Durkee said this year overseas ballots have posed a unique challenge. “The process is more lengthy, because it could take up to six weeks for the ballot to get to them, which were mailed out on September 25th. And then six weeks, if it takes them six weeks to get there, then it’s a pretty good chance for them to take six weeks to get back.”
In addition to potential delays with overseas ballots, Woodbury hand counts their votes. A lengthy and vigilant process in which results may take longer compared to other municipalities, Durkee said, “I’m expecting at least 48 hours to count all the votes.”
Seasoned election officials in Craftsbury Cheryl Bailey and Gayle Kroeger reported similar scenarios, but a different challenge.
Bailey and Kroeger said that voter turnout is up, especially among mail-in voters.
Kroeger and Bailey are not fans of universal mail in voting. Bailey said, “I’m not for it personally, because people don’t even know we’re putting out a lot of paper, and a lot of people are not even bringing their ballots back in. A lot of people who say they didn’t get them, they should have got them, but where did they go? I prefer people, if they want to submit an absentee ballot, they can ask for them.”
Kroeger added, “We have a super opportunity to vote, there’s no excuse to not be aware of voting.”
Kroeger and Bailey noted the process is not lengthened by mail-in voting. Kroeger said, “It would be the same no matter what.”
photo by Raymonda Parchment
Both Kroeger and Bailey agree the tabulator machine is the most significant adjustment to the voting process, and an immensely helpful addition. Bailey said, “Now that we have the tabulator, if everything goes well, we’ll have the votes counted two hours after. This is our first year with the tabulator. We’ll have people here to verify the count, but before we had to do it all by hand, so that would be a lot of work.”
In Wolcott, election day looks a little different. The tabulator is not a new addition for Town Clerk and Treasurer Belinda Harris Clegg, who provided further detail.
“No, no, we’ve had it for years. General elections, I’d say, at least for general elections. And it tells you, and it can also tell us so far we’ve had 76. We haven’t put in our absentee ballots yet. But this is it, and it’s totally sealed. Linda Reeve comes in and helps me as a BCA member seal it and get it ready ahead of time. And we always sign off on it saying there’s total zeros before we begin. So it’s all, and it’s just powered through a direct line. There’s no lines out of it other than that. And there is no internet connection.”
“The tabulator has made it a lot easier. Linda used to be here when we used to vote over at the town hall, and we were here until very late. Very late. Because before that, I remember one contested race, Randy Brock. And he had been put in the wrong line. And it was actually our fault. Because we had hand counted, but we had written it in, and we made a mistake. That doesn’t happen with this. Human error can be tragic. It really can.”
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Unlike many municipalities, Wolcott election staff are paid a minimum wage.
A designated worker is taking care of same-day voter registration, freeing up other poll workers. Wolcott has a handicap accessible voting station, equipped with a touch screen.
Clegg said, “For people whose hands are shaking, you can vote by voting here. You enter your selection on the screen ballot here, and it will print out your choices. At the primary we had about five or six people vote on it.”
Wolcott also reported high voter turnout: “Turnout has been very good. We had a line at 8 o’clock. We really haven’t had that before. Not since 2020, I would say. And not a big line then because it was Covid-10. So this was more. People waited actually from 7.30 on.”
In regards to universal mail-in voting, Clegg said “Well, I have to say that most people are bringing their ballots, but there are some that haven’t really read the envelope. I would like it to be bigger on the envelope that they have to bring that ballot. Because the secretary of state only gives me about 300 ballots. And out of 1,200 people, a lot of them don’t bring their ballots. I hope I don’t run out.”
According to Clegg, after the polls close, it shouldn’t take too long to verify and submit the results.
“Well, if we close at seven, I hope to have all my BCA members and counters gone by eight o’clock. And then I go into the office and I put it on the machine, the computer, and we go from there. And it usually takes me about half an hour. So I hope to be home by nine. Well, before we had a tabulator, we’d be here till midnight.”
Overwhelmingly, each respective town reported a high voter turnout, with little difficulty or significant challenges this election. While each polling place operates somewhat differently, the unifying feature was the dedication and vigilance of our area election officials and poll workers.
ed note: We’ve heard a number of comments about Raymonda Parchment’s headline here and want to acknowledge Raymonda first heard Wolcott Town Clerk Belinda Harris Glegg say, “All morning, we’ve been saying BYOB: Bring your own ballot.”
Raymobda is a VTSU - Castleton English Major interning with The Hardwick Gazette.
