Voters Head To Polls For Primary Election

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(Host) Voters will be heading to the polls today to vote in Vermont’s primary election.

Officials have no estimate for the expected turnout in the election because there are a number of variables.

On the one hand, it’s the first year primary voting has moved to August. But there are also hotly contested races on both the Democratic and Republican ballots.

Deputy Secretary of State Bill Dalton says there’s been a lot of focus on the five-way primary for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, but there are many other active races:

(Dalton) "You’ve got contested races for lieutenant governor on the Democratic side, contested races lieutenant governor on the Republican side. You’ve got some senatorial and state House of Representative contests. There’s a contest for secretary of state. You’ve got two Democrats in a primary there, you’ve got two Republicans in a primary and you’ve got auditor. So there’s a lot of activity."

(Host) Dalton says Vermont has open primaries, so voters can choose to mark a Progressive, Democratic or Republican ballot and that choice is made in the voting booth.

(Dalton) "You will be given three ballots and you will choose one of the three in which to vote. You may not vote across party lines. Let’s say, for example, you wanted to vote for one of the five Democrats running for governor. Then you would return an unmarked Republican and Progressive ballot."

(Host) The hour that polls open is set individually by each town. Huntington kicks off voting first at 6:30 in the morning, but many towns don’t open until 10.

Polls will close tonight at 7. But with so many contested races, results may not be known until well into the night.  

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