A record number of people voted in the 2024 General Election in Vermont, according to official vote totals from the Secretary of State’s Office.
Roughly 71% of registered voters in Vermont cast their ballots this election — just a slightly lower percentage than in 2020. The number of voters was 372,885.
Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas’ office says the difference is due to a record number of people registering to vote in Vermont in 2024.
Copeland Hanzas met with the chairs of Vermont’s Democratic, Republican and Progressive parties Tuesday to certify vote totals in an official canvass at the Statehouse.
“I am as pleased with the technical administration of this election as I could possibly be, but I’m even prouder of the participation levels,” said Copeland Hanzas. “This is what participatory democracy should look like.”
Certifying the final vote takes time — in large part because every ballot counted must be double and triple checked for accuracy.
Nearly 64% of voters cast their ballot by mail this year, slightly less than in 2020 when Vermont was in the midst of the pandemic.
The canvass certified Vermont’s federal election results Tuesday morning, and signed off on the official vote totals for statewide offices.
The Legislature will officially certify the winners of those races at the start of the session.
Gov. Phil Scott fared even better than in 2020, earning roughly 71% of votes cast in the state.
And while Vice President Kamala Harris won Vermont’s presidential race with roughly 63% of votes cast, more Vermonters voted for former President Donald Trump in 2024 than in 2020.
Nationwide, some states saw attacks on ballot boxes and other means of interrupting election proceedings.
Vermont election officials said Tuesday that despite some “vitriolic language” reported by town clerks in the weeks leading up to the election, the day went smoothly.
“Vermont wasn’t immune to the vitriol,” said Seán Sheehan, Vermont’s director of elections. “There weren’t explicit threats, but there were certainly implicit threats and a lot of animation and anger targeting clerks in a few instances — not as much as the rest of the country and not on Election Day.”
Sheehan said their office offered clerks and election volunteers deescalation training to prepare them, and were in close communication with Vermont State Police and the FBI.
Representatives of Vermont’s three major political parties voiced their confidence in the election at the canvass.
Deb Billado, former chair of Vermont’s Republican Party, was there representing Chair Paul Dame.
“This was a great election,” she said, thanking the staff at the Secretary of State’s Office for their work. “I did work the polls that day, and it was phenomenal. It was smooth, well-organized.”
The Legislature will hold a special vote to determine the outcome of the lieutenant governor’s race at the start of the session, because neither candidate earned more than 50% of all votes.
The canvass confirmed Tuesday that Republican John Rogers earned 46% of the vote, and current Progressive/Democratic Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman earned roughly 44%.
More from Vermont Public: David Zuckerman (mostly) concedes the lieutenant governor’s race
Progressive Party Executive Director Josh Wronski echoed Billado’s faith in the results, but said this election showcased the need for ranked choice voting in Vermont — something he says the party will continue to advocate for.
Secretary of state supports revote in Bennington House race
The Secretary of State’s Office is recommending a district-wide revote in the Bennington-1 House race this year.
Secretary Copeland Hanzas says an error was made with regards to the town of Pownal’s voter checklist in 2022, that put about 40 voters in the wrong legislative district.
Her office says the outcome of this year’s election, in which Democrat Jonathan Cooper won by about 25 votes over Republican Bruce Busa, could have been affected by that error.
According to Vermont law, the first step to remediate an error like this is for the losing candidate to file a recount petition in state court.
“We expect that challenge will be brought today and we will be recommending to the court that they order a revote in that race,” Copeland Hanzas said Tuesday morning.
She added, “We don’t know at this time exactly when the due date or the end date of that election would be, but when we get some directive from the court, we will be able to put a little more clarity on that.”
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