The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Title 17 : Elections
Chapter 051 : Conduct of Elections
Subchapter 002 : BALLOTS
(Cite as: 17 V.S.A. § 2472)-
§ 2472. Contents
(a) The ballot shall be titled “OFFICIAL VERMONT GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT,” followed by the date of the election. Immediately below, the following instructions shall be printed: “Instruction to Voters: To vote for a candidate whose name is printed on the ballot, fill in the oval at the right of that person’s name and party designation. To vote for a candidate whose name is not printed on the ballot, write the person’s name on the blank line in the appropriate block and fill in the oval to the right of that blank line. When there are two or more candidates to be elected to one office, you may vote for any number of candidates up to and including the maximum number.” The name of the town or towns and legislative district in which the ballot is to be used shall be listed in the upper left hand corner.
(b)(1) Each office to be voted upon shall be separately indicated and preceded by the word “For,” as: “For United States Senator.” Beneath the office to be voted upon shall appear the instructions: “Vote for not more than (the number of candidates to be elected).”
(2) The names of the candidates for each office shall be listed in alphabetical order by surname, followed by the candidate’s town of residence, and the party or parties by which the candidate has been nominated, or in the case of independent candidates who have not chosen some other name or identification, by the word “Independent.” The word “party” shall not be printed on the ballot following a candidate’s party name.
(3) To the right of the party designation shall be an oval in which the voter may indicate his or her choice by filling in the oval.
(4) A candidate’s name shall not appear on the ballot more than once for any one office.
(5)(A) In order to have votes listed for a write-in candidate under section 2587 of this title, not later than 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the election, a write-in candidate for the General Assembly, any State office, or any federal office shall complete a form of the Secretary of State’s design affirming that the candidate wants to have received votes listed under subdivision 2587(e)(3) of this title. The candidate shall file the form with either all town clerks within the candidate’s applicable district or the Secretary of State’s office in an electronic manner approved by the Secretary. The Secretary of State shall notify the appropriate town clerks of any filings made in accordance with this subsection (b) as soon as practicable.
(B) Notwithstanding subdivision (A) of this subdivision (b)(5), a write-in candidate is not required to file if:
(i) the candidate has already filed a consent to the printing of the candidate’s name on the ballot for a major political party, as provided in section 2361, 2385, or 2402 of this title; or
(ii) no candidate is printed on the ballot, or if a candidate whose name is printed on the ballot dies or is otherwise disqualified prior to 7:00 p.m. on the election day.
(c) Following the names of candidates for each office, there shall be as many blank write-in lines as there are persons to be elected to that office. To the right of each such line shall be the words “Write-In” and an oval identical to the ovals that follow the candidates’ names. Lines provided for writing in names for President and Vice President shall be separately designated by the words “President” and “Vice President.”
(d) [Repealed.]
(e) When an article is to be voted on and the legislative body determines that the article is too long or unwieldy to show in full on the ballot, it shall be sufficient for the ballot to show the article by the number and title for that article as they were listed in the warning for the election. However, the complete article shall be posted in a conspicuous place within each voting booth. (Added 1977, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1979, No. 200 (Adj. Sess.),§§ 43-45; 2007, No. 54, § 5; 2013, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 23; 2015, No. 30, § 9, eff. May 26, 2015; 2017, No. 50, § 21; 2019, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 121; 2025, No. 70, § 10, eff. June 25, 2025.)
