Sugaring Off: Vermont Politics and History, Plain and Simple

Yesterday was the 250-somethingth annual Town Meeting Day, when Vermonters gather in gymnasiums, auditoriums, and town halls to debate and vote on their towns’ affairs for the coming year. While many towns still conduct traditional “floor meetings,” where each article is discussed and voted on by everyone present, many larger towns (and a growing number of small towns) have adopted the so-called Australian Ballot.

The Australian Ballot is a fancy term for a secret ballot. Town Meetings in Australian Ballot towns essentially function as regular elections, where voters turn up at their polling place and receive a ballot with all the town articles and elected positions.

Here’s a roundup of some of the most interesting happenings from around the state yesterday!

Burlington

Last night was a rough one for the Burlington Progressive Party. They lost both of their targeted city council races. In East District, former Prog School Board member Kathy Olwell lost in a squeaker to Democratic candidate Allie Shachter. In the Dem bastion of South District, Prog nominee Jennifer Monroe Zakaras lost in a landslide to Democratic nominee Buddy Singh, who will replace outgoing councilor Joan Shannon.

In North District, conservative independent-turned-Democrat (again, still not sure how or why this happened) Mark Barlow cruised to re-election unopposed, turning back a last-minute write-in bid by former Ward 7 Councilor Ali Dieng. Burlington hasn’t released a breakdown of write-ins yet, but there were 260 write-in votes in North District, the majority of which were in Dieng’s home ward.

South Burlington

South Burlington managed to pass a school budget on the first try! Yay us!

Winooski

In the Onion City, former VDP Comms Director Emily Bowers won an open school board seat by five votes, defeating Kate Stattel. Winooski voters also approved a Just Cause Evictions ballot measure and was one of five municipalities to approve an “Apartheid Free Communities” ballot measure in support of Palestinians.

Rutland: What the Heck?

In the Marble City, incumbent Mayor Mike Doenges beat former City Clerk and Alderman Henry Heck with about 56% of the vote to clinch a second term in office.

Weathersfield

In Weathersfield, a Windsor County town notable as the adopted home of DEPLOY MALLOY, former Claremont City Planner deForest Bearse defeated conservative August Murray in a hotly contested selectboard race. Murray, the husband of Andrea Murray, a former state senate candidate, had the endorsement of Lt. Gov. John Rodgers and State Rep. Voranus Coffin.

Bennington

In Bennington, voters defeated measures to extend local voting rights to 16 and 17-year olds and non-citizens.

Marijua-no-thank-you

Voters in Hinesburg and Fairfax voted down proposals to allow retail cannabis sales in their towns.

Lyndon

In the Gateway to the Kingdom, the town meeting rejected a proposal to switch to the Australian Ballot, meaning that Lyndoners (Lyndonites?) will continue to conduct their business on the floor.

Big Fire™

In the Windham County town of Rockingham, voters agreed to consolidate their fire department with the departments of their constituent villages of Saxtons River and Bellows Falls.

Not-so-scary Barre

The Granite City (and the Granite Town) passed their school budget on the first try yesterday. School officials in the Barres are no doubt breathing a sigh of relief after last year, when the district was the last in the state to adopt a budget (their rounds of voting carried on into September, after the school year had even started).

No Budget for You!

After nearly 1/3 of districts failed to adopt a school budget on the first vote last year, things seem to be simmering down. As far as I can tell, only Georgia and Fairfax have rejected their school budgets, although this could change as more vote totals trickle in. If you’re aware of any others, please let me know so I can update this.

EDIT: A tip of the hat to friend of the page Adam Franz, who’s let us know that the other districts that failed their budgets were Wolcott, Springfield, Stamford, Ludlow-Mount Holly, Paine Mountain (Northfield and Williamstown), Slate Valley (Castleton, Fair Haven, West Haven, Hubbardton, and Benson), and Alburgh.

This is just a quick roundup of some of the contests I’ve been hearing buzz about. If you think I missed anything, please let me know so that I can add it. There will hopefully be another episode of From the Sugar Shack coming out next week so stay tuned for that. I’ll also have a longer article coming out soon about my experience working the polls in South Burlington yesterday, which I hope will be interesting for those of you that haven’t done that before. Happy Town Meeting to all of you, and we’ll see you next time!

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