AREA TOWNS — This year’s voter turnout in area towns was mostly well above the 71.35% state average except in Hardwick, which was below it, at 67.67% according to preliminary data from the secretary of state’s office.
In Cabot and Stannard turnout was slightly higher this year than in 2020. Elsewhere in the area, turnout was just one or two percent below 2020, though Craftsbury’s turnout was 7% below the high 86.63% the data shows for 2020.
Statewide voter turnout was down almost 2% in 2024 at 71.35% compared to 73.27% in 2020. Both were significantly higher than the 56.77% turnout in 2016. Increased turnout the last two presidential election years is likely due to the state’s mailing ballots to all registered voters in a process that began during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Lower voter turnout this year may be due to the end of pandemic restrictions that had more people staying home with less to do, thus perhaps more time to vote using the mail-in ballot they received.
Absentee ballots returned in 2016 were 25.96% of the total vote. That jumped to 75.60% in 2020, then dropped to 47.12% this year according to preliminary data from the Secretary of State’s website.
Voter turnout percentages in area towns are detailed in the accompanying chart.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
