On Your Own; Your Legal Right @ Eighteen On Your Own formatted final version | Page 9

a floor meeting, where anyone can ask questions and votes are taken
verbally or by show of hands. Alternatively, it may be an Australian ballot
election, where voters mark a secret ballot that is counted when the polls
close. Many town meetings use a combination of both floor meeting and
Australian ballot.
If the town meeting is during the year that the president and vice-
president are to be elected, it will include a vote in the second type of
election: the presidential primary. It is by party, and the result of the vote
is to bind the state political party to elect delegates to its national
convention in proportion to the votes cast in the presidential primary. This
helps determine who will be the presidential and vice-presidential
nominees of the major parties in the general election.
The third type of elections are state elections, which Vermont holds in
even-numbered years. Governor, state senators, state representatives
and other state constitutional officers are elected every two years in
Vermont. County officers like state’s attorneys and sheriffs are elected
every four years. General elections are held on the first Tuesday following
the first Monday of November. Before then, on the second Tuesday of
August, the state holds a primary to decide the candidates who will
represent the major parties in the general election. In the primary, each
voter must vote only for candidates in one of the major parties. No one
gets to know in which party or for whom you voted. You place the voted
ballot in the box yourself.
In the fourth type, general elections, you receive a single ballot for any
federal, state, and legislative offices to be filled, and may select any
candidate from any party, or even write in the name of someone else.
In all elections except the traditional floor-type town meeting, you are
entitled as a voter to receive an absentee ballot on request. This is a ballot
sent or delivered to your home, identical to the one you would use in the
polling place, and which you can use to vote as long as it is returned to the
polling place or town clerk before the polls close on election day. No
reason need be given for requesting an absentee ballot, but you must
request an absentee ballot no later than the day before the election. You
may also vote early in person at the town clerk’s office at any time after
the ballots are made available.
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