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.
Subchapter
003
:
LOCAL ELECTIONS USING THE AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM
(Cite as: 17 V.S.A. § 2681a)
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§ 2681a. Local election ballots
(a) Ballots for local officers and local public questions shall be prepared at town expense,
under the direction of the town clerk, not later than 20 days before the local election.
These ballots may be any color and the printing shall be black; in other respects,
they shall conform as nearly as may be practicable to the form of the consolidated
ballot in chapter 51, subchapter 2 of this title, except as otherwise provided in
this section.
(b)(1) On the local election ballot, the candidate’s name shall appear as provided in his
or her consent form.
(2) The board of civil authority may vote to list a street address for each candidate,
or the town of residence of each candidate, or no residence at all for each candidate.
(c) No political party or other designation shall be listed unless the municipal charter
provides for such listing, the town has voted at an earlier election to provide such
a listing or, in the absence of previous consideration of the question by the town,
the legislative body decides to permit listing. If political party or other designations
are permitted, no candidate shall use the name of a political party whose certificate
of organization has been filed properly with the Secretary of State unless the candidate
has been endorsed by a legally called town caucus of that political party for the
office in question. In any event, the candidate must still file the petition and consent
form required by section 2681 of this title.
(d) The names of candidates for the same office, but for different terms of service, shall
be arranged in groups according to the length of their respective terms.
(e) Public questions shall be written in the form of a question, with boxes indicating
a choice of “yes” and “no” directly under or to the right side of the public question.
No public question shall pass unless a majority of the votes, excluding blank and
overvotes, is cast in favor of the proposition. (Added 1979, No. 200 (Adj. Sess.), § 110; amended 1989, No. 211 (Adj. Sess.), § 6; 2007, No. 54, § 12; 2013, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 52; 2017, No. 50, § 56.)