Hojun Choi
CENTRAL VERMONT — Election administrators in and around Montpelier told The Bridge that they’re ready for the Aug. 11 primary, with early voting already underway.
Multiple city and town clerks, however, also told The Bridge that President Donald Trump’s ongoing rhetoric on election integrity, including a nationally televised announcement in July in which he accused China of interfering in the 2020 election, makes their jobs more difficult around election time.
There are only three contested local races, all on the Democratic ticket. In addition to primary races for governor and lieutenant governor, Democrats representing the Washington-4 state house and Washington District state senate seats are facing challengers in the primary.
Democrats Jared Duval, Pelin Kohn, and Kate McCann — the incumbent — are vying for two spots in the race for the Washington-4 house district representing Montpelier. In the state senate Washington District race, Gabe LaJeunesse, along with incumbents Ann Cummings, Andrew Perchlik, and Anne Watson, are seeking to fill three spots on the Democratic ticket.
Additionally, three people — Caleb Curry, Anne Dielensnyder, and incumbent Leah Murphy Jones are running for two spots to represent the Democratic party for the Washington County assistant judge race; one Republican, Ture Nelson of Berlin is also running.
Montpelier City Clerk John Odum said his office has lost several customer service staff but added he’s confident primary and general elections will run smoothly in the city. More than 6,000 people in the city registered to vote ahead of the primary election, Odum said.
“We have lost a couple of folks in the office who help with customer service,” Odum said. “But we’re making it work; we always make it work.”
Odum said he thinks people have the right to hold election officials accountable but added he has not seen anything that legitimizes the accusations from the current administration of foreign interference.
“We run pretty tight elections, we see no signs of anything other than effective, free, and fair elections,” Odum said.
Odum described Trump’s July announcement as “irresponsible.”
“It was almost a frantic presentation of a problem that has not been demonstrated to exist,” Odum said.
Plainfield Town Clerk Jaime Hammack, who is relatively new to their role and uses they/them pronouns, said they received help from election administrators from neighboring municipalities. They said the town had 1,007 verified registered voters for the primary election.
“It’s been really helpful seeing other clerks organizing [elections], and I’ve been getting inspiration from other towns,” Hammack said, adding that they have also been heartened to meet and learn from longtime local election volunteers.
Hammack said they think the small central Vermont town isn’t exempt from the “conflict and polarization” seen in politics, nationally. They, however, said they think Plainfield residents have largely shown a “level of respect and decency” toward one another.
Berlin Town Clerk Rachel Giroux said the town is well prepared for the Aug. 11 elections, which will coincide with the Washington Central Unified Union School District’s referendum regarding school closures. Giroux said Berlin has 1,812 verified registered voters ahead of the primary.
If passed, any decisions to close a campus would depend on a district-wide vote. Under the district’s bylaws, a campus closure “requires approval by both the school board and voters in the town where the school is located,” according to the district’s website.
“[The school district ballot] is sort of adding to the voting preparations,” Giroux said.
Giroux said she is aware of the recent and past election interference accusations made by Trump and thinks rhetoric from the federal level that sows doubt in the voting process can impact residents’ trust in local elections.
“Then, there are those who have complete trust in the process as well, so I suppose there is a balance,” Giroux said. “The only thing we can do at this point is to answer everyone’s questions as they come up the best we can and be as transparent as possible with the process.”
