Voting FAQs

1. Brattleboro residents can visit the Brattleboro Town Clerk’s office before the election or register to vote at the polling place. Vermont allows same day voter registration, and the Town Clerk’s office staff will be available at the polling place to register voters.
    
2. To register to vote online visit: olvr.vermont.gov.
    
3. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) also provides automatic voter registration when renewing or requesting a driver’s license (you can opt out by unchecking a box).

That depends. When registering to vote online or by mail you will be asked for ID. The ID should contain your current Brattleboro address and a name, this can be a photocopy of a driver’s license or permit, or a piece of mail from a utility or a bank.  To register in-person we ask for a driver’s license number or the last 4 digits of your social security number.

If you are moving from another Vermont town and registering to vote in Brattleboro, you do not need ID.

After registering you will not be asked for ID to check-in at the polls or to request an absentee ballot.

To find or update your voter registration online visit: MVP.Vermont.gov.

Yes. Underhoused and unhoused Brattleboro residents can register to vote by using their most recent or frequent sleeping location. This information helps us assign the correct district to a voter.

Yes. Youth voters in Brattleboro have specific allowances when voting or seeking an elected position.

The 2023 Vermont legislature passed a Brattleboro Town Charter change (H.386) that now allows 16- and 17-year-olds to vote and run in local elections. This does not include school, state, or national elections.

17-year-olds can vote in Presidential Primary Elections if they turn 18 by the November General Election. For example, a 17-year-old turning 18 between March 5 and November 5, 2024, can vote on the Town Meeting Day ballot and the Presidential Primary ballot. Including those with November 5 birthdates.

Those same 17-year-old voters can also vote in the State Primaries in August. However, 16-and-17-year-olds cannot vote in unified school district elections.

There are three ways:

1. Vote in person at the polls. If you live in Brattleboro Vermont your polling place is the American Legion Post 5, on 32 Linden Street. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Parking is available, and the side entrance is chair accessible.You will enter the American Legion Post 5 and find your voting district with our helpful poll workers. Please also check the informational booth for sample ballots and write-in information before entering the polling room.
    
2. Vote early at the Brattleboro Town Clerk’s office, 230 Main Street, Suite 108.  Vote in the Town Clerk’s office up to 20 days in advance of election day. The Town Clerk’s office is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    
3. Vote Absentee by requesting a ballot sent to you in the mail. Absentee ballots can be requested from the Town Clerk’s office or by visiting MVP.vermont.gov. With an absentee ballot a voter can vote from anywhere and drop off or mail back their ballot in a provided protective envelope. Since 2020 November General Election ballots are automatically mailed to registered voters by the Vermont Secretary of State. Presidential Primary Elections are an exception because voters need to declare a party.

Yes, but the marks on a ballot are not erasable. If you are voting in-person a poll worker will be able to help you replace your ballot. If you vote absentee and make an error, contact the Town Clerk’s office before you return your ballot.

If you are visiting the Town Clerk’s office to request absentee ballots for someone else, we will mail their ballots to them. Ballots must be handed to the individual voter, not a spouse, child, or parent. In some situations, two Justices of the Peace hand-deliver absentee ballots to voters by request.  

No. The ballots are all official ballots regardless of delivery method.

An absentee ballot mailed out is the same ballot you would be given in person.

There are 2 options available.

1. We recommend that you bring your absentee ballot with you to the polling place and use it to vote in-person. We also offer to exchange absentee ballots for an unfolded or unwrinkled ballot.
    
2. If you arrive at the polling place without your absentee ballot, poll workers will give you the option to sign a document of oath that your absentee ballot will not be used to vote. After signing, you will be issued a new ballot to vote in-person.

1. Sign the certificate envelope.
2. Put your ballot inside the signed envelope.
3. Seal up the signed envelope.
4. Put the signed envelope inside the large return envelope and seal that too.
5. Now you are ready to return your absentee ballot.
    

Mail: To return ballots by mail use any mail carrier or USPS drop box and remember to allow plenty of time for mail delivery. If a ballot is not received by 7pm on the day of the election it cannot be counted, even if it’s postmarked before the election.

Drop off: If you have not mailed your absentee ballot a week before the election, we suggest dropping it off at the Town Drop Box in the Municipal Center parking lot or handing it to a staff person in the Town Clerk’s office.

At the polls: You can bring your absentee ballot to the polling location and drop it off in the absentee ballot box during the election up to 7pm.

We cannot give your absentee ballots to others, but you can have a trusted person return your absentee ballot for you if it is sealed in the correct signed envelopes.

You can find that information on the My Voter Page website hosted by the Vermont Secretary of State’s office. Visit: mvp.vermont.gov

We are required to ask which party you are voting for when we distribute Presidential Primary ballots. The Primary ballots are for candidates from either the Democratic or Republican party. We will ask which ballot you want, but your ballot choice is not assigned to your voter registration.

Vermont does not require any voter to declare a party while registering to vote. Declaring is only required during Presidential Primary elections every four years (and not required for State Primary elections). This was established circa 1970 as a compromise between the Democratic and Republican parties and the state of Vermont.

In Vermont, many elections are combined into the same day for convenience. Town Meeting Day is a state-wide election day for local government offices. These include Constable, Lister, Selectboard, Trustee of Public Funds, and only in Brattleboro, Town Meeting Member. This ballot is also what 16- and 17-year-old voters in Brattleboro receive.

The Unified School District also holds elections for School Board offices on annual Town Meeting Day and requires its own ballot.

Every 4 years Vermont uses state-wide Town Meeting Day to also host Presidential Primary Elections. The General Election occurs in November.

Every 2 years the state of Vermont holds elections for state offices. That Primary Election is in August every other year, and the General Election follows in November. Every 4 years in November there is the General Election for President and Vermont state elections on the same day.

There is a convenient calendar of elections posted on our website. As a handy reminder, if the year is an even number ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8, there will be a state Primary Election in August and a General Election in November. Meanwhile, every year there is an annual Town Meeting Day in March.

Annually:

• Vermont Town Meeting Day is always held on the first Tuesday in March.
• The Unified School District Board Member elections are also on annual Town Meeting Day.

EVERY 2 YEARS:

• Vermont state Primary Elections are in August, with Vermont state General Elections in November.
• August elections happen on the second Tuesday of the month.
• November elections happen on the first Tuesday that falls after the first Monday of the month.

EVERY 4 YEARS:

• Presidential Primaries are in March, on the first Tuesday. This is scheduled with Town Meeting Day.
• General Elections are in November on the first Tuesday that falls after the first Monday.

Once the ballots are finalized sample ballots will be available to the public online and at the polls in an informational booth.

Poll workers cannot discuss or advise voters about candidates or items/topics up for vote. The sample ballot is a useful tool for researching those items before voting. 

Brattleboro has 3 voting districts, and each district requires a Town Meeting Day, General, and State Primary ballot that is unique to that district. You can find out your district by contacting the Town Clerk’s office, using one of our district maps, or checking your registration at the My Voter Page at: mvp.vermont.gov.

Yes, cell phones are allowed inside the polling place, we ask that you hold your phone calls until you are outside and not use your phone in a way that may disrupt other voters. Bringing a smart phone might help you do last minute research if you read the ballot and have questions. Poll workers can’t answer questions about who to vote for or what the wording means on a ballot.

Displayed literature or merchandise regarding candidates and items that are on the ballot. This means posters, hats, T-shirts, pins, and stickers with a candidate’s name on them, or that say “vote yes” or “vote no” on a specific article. Like, “Vote No on Article II”. Literature that you plan to use for personal use in the voting booth can be brought in if it is not displayed publicly and is not left in the voting booth.

In 2024, S.209 was passed prohibiting the possession of firearms at polling places during elections. The law applies to Town Clerk offices during early voting as well as any place a municipality has designated to the Secretary of State as a polling place.

The state automatically mails ballots to all active registered voters for the November General Election ONLY. Please be sure to log into your My Voter Page to check that your voter status is active, and that your mailing and physical addresses are accurate.

Absentee ballots can be requested for one election, or for an entire calendar year. Absentee ballot requests DO NOT roll over from year to year. It is best practice to contact the Town Clerk’s office at the beginning of each calendar year to request for the entire year, if you are interested in voting absentee for all elections.

It is best to request your ballot with enough time for the ballot to be mailed to you and then returned and received by your Town Clerk’s office in time for election day. Any ballot received after election day will NOT be counted.

The full answer below is taken from the Secretary of State’s website:

If you're hearing the myth...

“Vote counting machines (tabulators) can be hacked.”

The Truth: They can’t. “Air gapped” machines, a paper trail, and post-election audits ensure election security.

The Details: Vote-counting machines, known as tabulators, are securely built. Tabulators are unable to connect to the internet or other systems – a practice known as air gapping. Not only are tabulators secure, but the machines are consistently more accurate than hand counting, which is why all Vermont polling places that serve 1,000 or more voters use them. The machines are rigorously checked and tested: clerks must test the machines at least ten days before an election for “logic and accuracy.” This ensures the tabulator is reading ballots correctly.

Clerks must also ensure that all election officials follow strict protocols when handling the tabulator memory cards and any paper ballots. They sign out and sign back in the memory cards, and carefully monitor when ballots are handled in any way. Just like for nearly every other election-related duty, at least two election officials must be present to run a tabulator. When not in use, tabulators must be locked in a vault or a secure location at all times.

But even with those protocols in place, we still don’t just take the machine’s word for it. Every vote cast in Vermont elections is done on a paper ballot; paper ballots from Federal elections are securely stored for 22 months following the election to ensure accurate results.

After each election, results from the stand-alone tabulators are printed out on a register tape. Election officials enter these results through a secure online portal into the statewide election management system on election night as unofficial results. The number of ballots counted is compared to the number of voters checked off the checklist as having voted, and those two numbers need to match. Once everything has been checked to make sure it’s correct, the official results are reported to the Secretary of State’s office. This report has to be done within 48 hours of polls closing.

Vermont’s statewide results are certified as official a week after the election by a canvassing committee, made up of the Secretary of State and a member of each major party (Democratic, Progressive, and Republican).

Finally, thirty days after every general election, the Secretary of State’s office conducts a post-election audit. We gather in December in a public, live-streamed event, where we select a random group of cities and towns - some of which are hand count towns - to confirm the results reported match the ballots. The results reported by the clerk are compared to the paper ballots themselves, to make sure that there are no discrepancies. The results of these audits are then posted on our website.