Here are seven takeaways:
System security: Vermont’s election website, including its voter checklist, showed no security issues in two recent scans by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and one by a private cybersecurity expert, Condos said. “I don’t want to say it can’t be hacked,” Condos said. “We have taken every step we can.”
Integrity of votes: Vermont uses paper ballots, which most towns count with electronic tabulators. They, in turn, record the votes on a memory card. The tabulators are not connected to the internet and the paper ballots are retained for possible recounts. In towns where ballots are counted by hand, Condos said, “The counting is not done by one person.”
Poll watchers: Each political party and independent candidate can have up to two poll watchers per voting site on Election Day. The only options they have, by law, to challenge someone’s right to vote is by questioning whether the person has already voted or whether they are the person on the voter checklist.
Registering: If you’re not yet signed up to vote, you have until 5 p.m. Wednesday. You can register online, or at your town or city clerk’s office.
Ballots: You can find a sample of your local ballot and details about your polling place or request an absentee ballot online at the Secretary of State’s office. (And you can also see who’s on your local ballot by visiting sevendaysvt.com).
Turnout: A record number of Vermonters — 465,483 — have registered to vote. Some 51,303 of them had already voted as of Monday afternoon. Presidential election year turnout tends to be 65-72 percent of those registered.
Results: Town and city clerks will report results election night directly to the Secretary of State’s Office website, where you can follow them in real time. Polls close at 7 p.m. Don’t expect any results before 7:30 p.m. “After 8 is when it picks up speed,” election director Will Senning said.
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I did not know that in Vermont, poll watchers can question anyone about “whether they are the person on the voter checklist.” What reason would anyone have to question my identity? Is there a list somewhere of valid types of identification– and who would make this list? More importantly, how can we change this provision, which puts an undue burden on voters?
Wanda, why is this a burden? To have to prove you are who you are. Several years ago I was voting and a person in front of me gave a name to the person at the check off list of a person who had lived next to us for a few years and this person was not who they said they were. The person on the checklist did not get out much due to a back injury so wasn’t really well known. I mentioned this to the person at the checklist and was told it was none of my business. Always made me question how much voter fraud there is actually going on