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 057 : Presidential Elections
Subchapter 001 : PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY
(Cite as: 17 V.S.A. § 2702)-
§ 2702. Nominating petition
(a) The name of any person shall be printed upon the primary ballot as a candidate for nomination by any major political party if petitions signed by at least 1,000 voters in accordance with sections 2353, 2354, and 2358 of this title are filed with the Secretary of State, together with the written consent of the person to the printing of the person’s name on the ballot.
(b) Petitions shall be filed not later than 5:00 p.m. on the 15th day of December preceding the primary election.
(c) The petition shall be in a form prescribed by the Secretary of State.
(d) A person’s name shall not be listed as a candidate on the primary ballot of more than one party in the same election.
(e) Each petition shall be accompanied by a filing fee of $2,000.00 to be paid to the Secretary of State. However, if the petition of a candidate is accompanied by the affidavit of the candidate, which shall be available for public inspection, that the candidate and the candidate’s campaign committee are without sufficient funds to pay the filing fee, the Secretary of State shall waive all but $300.00 of the payment of the filing fee by that candidate.
(f)(1) 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 nomination shall complete a form of the Secretary of State’s design affirming that the candidate wants to have received votes for that office in every major political party’s primary results 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 as soon as practicable.
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (1) of this subsection, a write-in candidate is not required to file if:
(A) 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
(B) 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. (Added 1979, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 6, 1980; amended 1995, No. 38, § 3; 2011, No. 66, § 16, eff. June 1, 2011; amended 2013, No. 1, § 82; 2017, No. 50, § 62; 2025, No. 70, § 12, eff. June 25, 2025.)
