People at the polls

March 3, 2021  |  By Community News Service staff 

Town Meeting Day may not have had many in-person meetings, but many voters showed up in person to vote or just drop off their ballots at their polling places. 

Starting at 7 a.m., student reporters from UVM’s Community News Service fanned out on Tuesday to polling places around Vermont from Fairfax to Lincoln, Shelburne to Duxbury, Burlington to Rutland and more, to catch up with voters and find out what was on their minds. You can find their full report here.

Maybe you had had a chance to talk with one of them at Thatcher Brook Primary School in Waterbury or outside the town office in Duxbury. Here are snippets from the conversations they had with local voters and election workers. 

Waterbury mom, Laura Hardie, braves frigid temperatures to vote in support of the community.

4:39 p.m. Retail cannabis finds support 

Despite her 2-year-old son Maverick’s protests of “I want to go home!” Waterbury parent Laura Hardie braved the blistering winds to vote at Thatcher Brook Primary School.

She voiced her support for her friend Dani Kehlmann, who was running for a three-year seat on the Waterbury select board. “She is a genuinely kind person who cares about her community and doing the right thing,” she said. “She’s also younger, so I’m looking forward to the fresh perspective she can bring to the select board.”

While attempting to shield her son from the icy gusts, Hardie said she was particularly interested in Article 8, which asked voters to decide whether to allow the retail sale of legal cannabis in their town. “I think that would be good for our town if there was some sort of income that could come back from taxes on weed retail,” she said.

— Jenny Koppang

Kat O’Neill, a Waterbury mom, voted to support the Children’s Room. Photo by Jenny Koppang.

4:26 p.m. Voting for The Children’s Room

As the afternoon sun began to sink, Waterbury voter Kat O’Neill, a 42-year-old attorney and mother, huddled into her parka outside Thatcher Brook Primary School.

O’Neill said she was excited to vote in favor of Article 28, which asked residents to allocate $4,000 to the Early Education Resource Center of Waterbury, which operates as The Children’s Room.

She explained that the organization operating pre-pandemic at TBPS, offers programming and resources to children under age 5. “It’s a free drop-in room for people who maybe couldn’t afford to do music classes or movement classes or things like that,” O’Neill said. “It’s such a great resource, lots of moms, parents, or guardians meet each other this way,”

She said she is happy for the opportunity to support a non-profit that can give back to the community. “I think it’s really important to appropriate funds for community organizations like The Children’s Room,” she said.

— Jenny Koppang

 

3:14 p.m. State representative backs town deciding legal weed question

A clear blue sky over Thatcher Brook Primary School attempts to cut through the chill as Waterbury residents arrived to vote.

State Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury, voted in favor of Article 8 in the state legislature. This article allows towns to decide whether to “opt-in” to authorize a commercial market for legal cannabis.

“It was important for me for towns to have their own say,” she said.

She said that establishing a legal cannabis market in Waterbury could serve as both an opportunity and a cautionary tale. “Even the most positive things have sometimes unintended consequences,” Wood said.

— Jenny Koppang

1:22 p.m. Young couple brings 3-year-old daughter to vote

Patrick Collins and his wife were excited to show their daughter the voting process even with COVID restrictions. Three-year-old Reona hangs out in the backseat as her parents voted on town meeting day. They said they were happy for the shorter process this year.

“Being able to vote on every single item because normally town meeting day takes all day. We have a three-year-old so it’s not always that easy,” he said.

They’ve lived in Duxbury for about four years now and were “pretty good about (going to town meetings) until we had a kid,” Collins said. 

— Ivy Kirby

12:23 p.m. Duxbury teacher never misses town meeting 

Shawnee Perry is walking around outside the Duxbury town office on a chilly March afternoon. She is carrying her camera in hand as she captures a COVID Town Meeting Day.

Perry has lived in Duxbury her entire life and was also an election worker.

“I came to vote because everything on our ballot is important. It’s really important to exercise our rights and responsibilities as citizens of the town of Duxbury,” she said.

Her son is a recent graduate at the University of Vermont and she has great pride in this little state, she said.

— Ivy Kirby

11:06 a.m. Duxbury voters take to the drive-thru

In Duxbury, voters get no shelter while dropping off their ballots, handing them over from their car and truck windows.

Dan Cordozo, 68, eagerly greets voters as they drive in. He is a justice of the peace who helps with elections. Cordozo can also legally marry people “but I don’t do that much,” he said.

While this setup works well to collect ballots, Cordozo worries about the new town meeting format put in place because of the pandemic. “You really miss the sense of community,” he said.

The Australian ballot also affects how voters can engage with the town’s budget. “You can’t highlight specific aspects this year. It’s just a straight up and down vote,” he said.

On top of these concerns, Cordozo misses the warm cafeteria and hot food normally available on Town Meeting Day.

Maureen Harvey, Duxbury’s town clerk, likes the new format. Duxbury has been doing drive-thru voting since June.  “We’ve got higher turnout,” she said.

Like Cordozo, Harvey acknowledges that with the Australian ballot there’s no negotiation on the budget and other issues. “It’s just up or down on everything,” she said.

That might not be bad, though. “We usually only have slight changes to the budget,” Harvey said.

— Kris Nine

10:45 a.m. COVID made it harder to follow issues

Waterbury engineer Jon Williams, 69, was reluctant to head back outside after voting at Thatcher Brook school. “It’s a nasty cold day. The wind is whipping,” he said.

Like other voters, Williams said he thinks COVID didn’t make it harder to vote, but made it more challenging to follow issues. “I always vote but I haven’t been to any of the meetings this year,” he said.

A UVM alumnus, Williams also has a degree in forestry. 

— Kris Nine

10 a.m. Voters brave Town Meeting Day wind and cold 

Brutal wind and single-digit chills confront voters as they head to Thatcher Brook Primary School to vote on Town Meeting Day in Waterbury.

David Morse, 66, is heavily bundled to stave off the freezing weather. He feels open about many of the questions that await him on the ballot.

Due to COVID, voters do not get to experience the social interaction and debate of a normal Town Meeting. “It’s been more challenging to get an understanding of the issues this year, especially for older folks,” Morse said. “I’m sure it’s hard for kids to learn remotely in a similar way.”

Morse owns a gym in Waterbury.

— Kris Nine