Voting In Vermont
The Vermont Secretary of State maintains a webpage on that has links to data on voting methods and voter turnout across the state.[1] The data[2] is presented by town in two separate files. It does not include any analysis or conclusions. The data captures two methods of voting, Australian Ballot (secret ballot) or Floor Vote (open town meeting).
The chart and table below show voter turnout rate by voting method and number of registered voters. The key takeaways from this analysis are:
- Voter participation in Australian balloting averages twice that of floor votes.
- Participation in Australian ballot votes has a small variation regardless of town size.
- Participation in floor voting falls off sharply as town size increases.
The Secretary of State data also shows which items are voted on by Australian ballot by town. It is based on self-reported data and incomplete. It presents three general categories. The categories are Officers (e.g. select board), Public Questions, and Budget.
The chart and table below show the portion of towns using Australian ballot for these items and the portion of towns using Australian balloting for all items by registered voter population. The key takeaway is that as town size increases so does the use of Australian ballot.
The file on voting methods also contains responses under this heading – “Australian ballot voting adopted by Town for budget, officers, or public questions at 2025 Town Meeting”. This question appeared in the 2024 and 2023 town meeting data as well. The table below summarizes the responses to this question.
Over the last three years 31 towns of all sizes have adopted Australian ballot for some or all votes.[3]
[1] https://sos.vermont.gov/elections/election-info-resources/town-meeting-local-elections/
[2] The State data for some towns was incomplete and supplemented with websearch results.
[3] Caveat – This data was self-reported and appears to have been collected through an open-ended question format. A constrained choice question would have been more reliable for reporting purposes.
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