MIDDLESEX, Vt. (WCAX) – With just one week until Election Day, top state officials say everyone should make a plan for the election. More than 150,000 Vermonters — or about a third of registered voters — have already cast their ballots.

At Middlesex City Hall, City Clerk Sarah Merriman has been busy collecting ballots from about 1,400 registered voters in the city for weeks.

“It needs to be filled out with your signature, your printed name and the date,” she explained, showing one of the early returned ballots in a sealed envelope.

Merriman then enters the voters' ballot into a statewide system, preventing them from voting in person on Election Day. Then I take the ballot — still in the envelope with the signature, still sealed — take it to our vault and put it in a locked ballot box,” she said.

The ballots remain there until they are tabulated and reported. “This will print a full report that shows the zero report, starting at zero, then we have the counts for all races,” Merriman said.

If you have not mailed your ballot, it is too late to mail it. Instead, you must drop it in a mailbox at your local town hall or bring it to the polls on Election Day.

“If you vote on Election Day, bring your own ballot,” said Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas. And if you don't bring it with you, you'll have to sign an affidavit certifying that you haven't voted yet.

State election officials are also raising concerns about a growing trend of threatening behavior and violence toward poll workers and election officials, from which they say Vermont is not immune. In an effort to calm the political mood, Republican Gov. Phil Scott and Copeland Hanzas, a Democrat, urged Vermonters Tuesday to put aside partisan politics and engage with each other and their community.

“By giving back, we can turn the tide, rebuild our sense of community, feel more connected to our neighbors and feel part of something bigger than ourselves,” Scott said. He says state police are preparing for a range of possible Election Day scenarios, from power outages to violence at the polls.

Back in Middlesex, Merriman says they will do the absentee voting on Monday before a busy day on Tuesday. “Your neighbors and elected officials are leading this process. Nobody has an agenda, we just want an efficient and accurate election,” she said.

Voters can also track the progress of their ballots on the Department of State's My Voter page.

Copyright 2024 WCAX. All rights reserved.