Registered Vermont voters to get ballots by mail

Posted: Sep 16, 2020 / 11:51 AM EDT / Updated: Sep 16, 2020 / 02:04 PM EDT

A box of absentee ballots waits to be counted at the Albany County Board of Elections in Albany, N.Y. Mail-in ballots have exploded in popularity since the pandemic spread in mid-March, at the peak of primary season.(AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Secretary of State Jim Condos says registered Vermont voters will automatically receive a ballot in the mail for the November election. Vermonters will be able to return it by mail, drop it off at their town clerk’s office, or bring it to the polls on Election Day.

Meanwhile, a federal judge is expected to rule Wednesday on a challenge to the vote-by-mail system filed by five Vermonters, including a town clerk and a former Republican representative to the Vermont House.

Condos says the current plan is for ballots to be mailed starting on September 21, and any voter who does not receive one by October 1 should contact their town clerk. He says ballots are being mailed “to preserve the voting rights of all eligible Vermonters during a pandemic, while protecting the public health by reducing high traffic in-person voting on Election Day.”