The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 17 : Elections

Chapter 051 : Conduct of Elections

Subchapter 006 : EARLY OR ABSENTEE VOTERS

• § 2548. Voting in person

  (a) Prior to the opening of the polls, the municipal clerk shall provide the election officials of each polling place with a list of the names of all persons who have voted early in the clerk’s office or marked and returned early voter absentee ballots, and these persons shall not thereafter vote in person in the same election.

  (b)(1) A voter who has been issued an early ballot, either by the Secretary of State’s office pursuant to section 2537a of this subchapter or otherwise by the town clerk, but who has not returned the voter’s voted ballot to the clerk, may vote in person at the polling place on election day.

  (2) If the voter brings the voter’s marked ballot enclosed in the signed certificate envelope, the voter may submit that certificate envelope containing the voted ballot to the entrance checklist official for processing along with any other early or absentee ballots. The voter shall be marked off the checklist and the clerk shall record the voter as having returned the absentee ballot on election day in the online election management system.

  (3) If the voter brings the marked ballot, but it is not enclosed in the certificate envelope, the voter shall be marked off the checklist and be allowed to cast that ballot into the secure ballot box or tabulator in the same manner as other voters who are voting in the polling place. The clerk shall record any such voter as having voted in person on election day in the online election management system.

  (4) If the voter brings the unmarked ballot, the voter shall be marked off the checklist and allowed to proceed to a voting booth to mark that ballot and cast it into the ballot box or tabulator in the same manner as other voters who are voting in the polling place. The presiding officer may choose to provide any such voter with a new ballot in exchange for the unvoted ballot that the voter brought to the polls. The clerk shall record any such voter as having voted in person on election day in the online election management system.

  (5) If the voter does not bring a marked or an unmarked ballot with them to the polls, the voter shall be required to sign an affidavit that the voter has not previously cast a ballot in the election and only then shall they be checked off the checklist and allowed to vote in the same manner as all other voters who are voting at the polling place. The clerk shall record any such voter as having voted in person on election day in the online election management system. Any affidavits signed by voters at the polling place pursuant to this section shall be retained for a period of 90 days following the election. (Added 1977, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2001, No. 6, § 12(a), (b), eff. April 10, 2001; 2007, No. 54, § 8c; 2017, No. 50, § 35; 2021, No. 60, § 17, eff. June 7, 2021.)