Vermonters headed to the polls Tuesday to cast their votes in the primary election that will determine candidates for state and legislative offices from the state’s three major political parties.
Compared to previous years, the primaries were somewhat quieter, but that does not mean that voters do not have important decisions to make.
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Early Tuesday morning, poll worker Leigh Steele greeted some of them at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington.
Steele has been volunteering at elections for three years. She says it’s a way to give back to her town and it’s rewarding to help neighbors vote.
She said climate change is a major concern for her, but Steele is also concerned about other issues at the local level.
“We have huge problems with homelessness and community safety in Burlington right now,” she said. “Housing shortage.”
One of Vermont’s most important election campaigns took place in Chittenden County, where television host Stewart Ledbetter ran against President pro tempore Phil Baruth, Tanya Vyhovsky and Martine Gulick for one of the Democratic Senate candidates.
Jim Reed, who lives in Essex, said he usually votes Republican and plans to do so in the presidential election, but he said he went to the Democratic primary on Tuesday because he strongly supports Ledbetter.
“The world is ending,” Reed said. “I’ve noticed it with this damn pandemic. The world is ending. And I don’t know if you want to hear more about it, but I just don’t think we’re on the right track.”
Reed said that as a senior citizen, he is concerned about the cost of living in Vermont. He said that just meeting basic needs is exorbitantly expensive right now.
We asked, you answered: What issues should the candidates discuss in the run-up to the election?
Elodie Reed
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Vermont Public Administration
In Fletcher, city officials said about 10% of voters cast their ballots a few hours before polls closed Tuesday.
Among them was 54-year-old Jinny Janesik.
She said it is important for people to consider not only what is important to them when voting, but also what is important to their friends, family and neighbors.
“Don’t vote in a way that means your best friend loses funding for her disabled child or that the two little girls next door have fewer rights than their mother or grandmother,” she said.
Janesik said people should vote according to their beliefs.
“Don’t vote in a way that means your best friend loses funding for her disabled child, or that the two little girls next door have fewer rights than their mother or grandmother.”
Jinny Janesik, resident of Fletcher
For Janesik’s daughter Jasmine Duncan, Tuesday was not just an election like any other.
It was the 19-year-old’s first time voting.
And she said she was glad she went with her mother – because she didn’t know beforehand that she didn’t have to fill out all three ballots for each political party.
“I think in school they should definitely show you what a ballot looks like,” she said. “Like, ‘Hey, this is how you fill out a ballot, this is how you vote for who you want to vote for.'”
Duncan said education funding and civil rights are important issues to her.
Zoe McDonald
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Vermont Public Administration
Winooski resident Mike Brown spoke with candidates campaigning outside the Winooski Senior Center before going inside to cast his vote.
The 39-year-old, who works at a small software company, said he had planned to participate in the Democratic primary but had to make some last-minute decisions.
“I’m just trying to decide who needs to be fired and who gets a chance to represent the Democrats in Vermont and Winooski,” he said.
In Essex, voter Erik Post was eager to hear the candidates talk about the cost of living in Vermont.
He said he never misses an election and was a little nervous because so many long-serving senators would not be returning to the Statehouse this session.
“I think it’s important that we have some consistency in Montpelier because there’s been so much turnover, especially in the Senate,” he said. “But overall, to me, it’s just a question of affordability in Vermont, you know? And planning for the future, especially with climate change.”
“I think it’s important that we have some consistency in Montpelier because there’s been so much turnover, especially in the Senate. But to me, overall, it’s just a question of affordability in Vermont, you know? And planning for the future, especially with climate change.”
Erik Post, resident of Essex
Post believes that in addition to the cost of everyday goods, property taxes should also be a focus for candidates this year.
Rob Cotter would agree. He went to the polls in Brattleboro on Tuesday with a simple plan of action that reflected the growing tension between voters and lawmakers over issues of financial viability after this year’s legislative session: Vote out all incumbents — including his state representative, Emilie Kornheiser, a Democrat and chair of the Vermont House Tax Committee. (Kornheiser later won the primary, according to the Associated Press.)
Cotter, an optician, said he was tired of taxes rising alongside the cost of living.
“Vermont also has a reputation for being less business-friendly. The theory is that we only tax the rich. And there aren’t that many rich people anymore,” he said.
There is one incumbent that Cotter says he would like to send back to Montpelier: Republican Governor Phil Scott.
Meanwhile, Aubrey Clinedinst of Brattleboro said she was pleased with Kornheiser, who faced a spirited challenge in the primary from Amanda Ellis-Thurber, a local farmer who positioned herself to the right of the incumbent.
However, Clinedist said she was not worried about rising taxes.
“My husband and I are in a higher tax bracket and I honestly believe taxes are absolutely necessary. They have paid for things we need,” she said. “I’m someone who believes when someone gets last-minute information that requires a change.”
Zoe McDonald
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Vermont Public Administration
Andy Blanchet of Winooski said they showed up Tuesday to vote for local candidates in the race for Vermont House and Senate seats.
Blanchet, 30, is president of her union and said it is important that they support pro-worker candidates.
“For me, it was very important to vote for pro-employee, pro-worker people, so I really did my research … actually looked at how people voted when it came to renters or people who had to pay back student loans, things like that. Family leave was really important,” Blanchet said.
In St. Johnsbury, voters cast their ballots at a busy train station that had been converted into a reception center.
“For these smaller elections in small towns, it is important to continue voting.”
Kit McGill Simpson, resident of St. Johnsbury
Kit McGill Simpson believes Vermonters can have the greatest impact by voting on local issues.
“At the local level, you feel like you have a little bit more control than you do at the big picture, at the national level. It’s important to still vote in these smaller elections in small towns,” McGill Simpson said.
For McGill Simpson, the local vote was also important in light of the recent floods in St. Johnsbury, which have exacerbated the housing crisis there.
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