Moretown is a rural community of 1,600 people tucked against a mountain on the edge of the Mad River Valley. It got its name when someone climbed to the top of a hill in what's now known as Waitsfield, thinking they'd reached the end of the Valley, only to be faced with "more town." On Tuesday, Sept. 9, the doors of the Moretown Town Hall yawned wide open, letting the musty smell of 173 years of meetings, dances and elections seep out onto the cracked sidewalk. Despite the welcome, only 102 of the town's residents voted in Vermont's primary election. And the doors were open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
All across the state, town officials encountered the same dismal numbers. There are 200 registered voters in the town of Granville. Sixteen people cast ballots, though four of them were election workers. In Kirby, four people showed upout of a possible 325.
The final numbers aren't in yet, but Vermont can read the writing on the precinct returns: voter turnout for Tuesday's primary election hit a record low. Secretary of State Deb Markowitz pointed out a few possible catalysts when faced with the galling fact that fewer than ten percent of the state hit the polls.
1) No Surprises Here: There were two contested statewide primary races this year: the Democratic race for Lt. Governor and the Democratic race for the U.S. House. Ted Costello won the Lt. Governor's primary; he'll face three-term incumbent Republican Brian Dubie in November. Rep. Peter Welch doesn't have a major party challenger in the general election, and the filing deadline has passed. Were those results expected? Well, Welch is an incumbent with a very strong record, and Costello has served in the state legislature and comes from a respected line of Vermont policy makers, while his opponent, Nate Freeman, didn't really get his campaign out there. So yes, they sort of were expected.
"I've lived in Vermont since I was nine and once you've been here for a while you get a feel for the way politics work," said Gina Conn, 25. "If a politician is really bad, you hear about it and you vote them out. But if you're happy with the people you have, there's really no reason to think there's going to be an upset."
Sadly, Markowitz had to point out reason two.
2) What's Going On Today?: Even people in the news business, whose job it is to report on the primaries, forgot to hit the polls before heading to work. The primary almost seemed to be a secret; lawns were free of campaign signsin fact, nearly everywhere was free of campaign signs. The contested races weren't really mentioned above the fold in the state's largest newspapers. It was 'blink-and-you-miss-it' campaigning. The primary was over before anyone really realized it was going on.
"It caught me completely off-guard," said an election worker from Moretown. "I didn't realize there was a primary until the town called and asked me if I could help out. I also think because there was a presidential primary earlier in the year, people sort of forgot there was a local primary. Regardless, you didn't hear a word about it."
And then Markowitz delivered the coup de grace.
3) It Was Raining: It snows in May here. The roads are so pothole-puckered they resemble dirt-encrusted Swiss cheese. Freakish types of winter precipitation turn even paved streets into automobile Slip'N'Slide's in 30 seconds flat. If it's raining, Vermonters get wet, especially if it's 60 degrees like it was on Tuesday. But it could have been 80 degrees and sunny and the polls would have probably still been empty. At least Deb Markowitz knows how to make a joke... I think.
"It's not about not caring, it's more a feeling that the end result will be the same whether I vote or not," said Mikaela Shea, 25 and a registered voter. "And I'm alright with that because they're the candidates I would pick anyway. The general elections are the ones that matter, and of course I'm voting in those. For the primary, though, it feels like the candidates did pretty much nothing to get us to the polls."
"I'm not going to lie," Gina Conn said, "I was caught by surprise. I was just driving in to work and there were a bunch of different campaign signs in front of the elementary school. That was literally the only way I found out that there was an election going on."
Is there really just one explanation for the empty ballot boxes, one single reason why 90 percent of Vermont's voters didn't step foot in a voting both on Tuesday? Maybe it was the lack of races. Maybe it was the lack of campaign signs. Maybe it was the lack ofdry weather? Not like that's anything new.
Right now, however, there's only one thing Vermonters need to know: Election Day is on November 4.
Rachel Feldman, 9/12/08