Killington: Higher voter turnout after change [but also less informed voter]

By Emily Cutts

Rutland Herald
Staff WRITER | April 23,2015

KILLINGTON — Three years after adopting paper ballots for voting at town meeting, Killington is reporting higher voter turnout.

“The results of the last three years demonstrate that the Australian ballot has ensured that everyone who wants to vote, can — even if they have to work on Town Meeting Day,” said Patty McGrath, chairwoman of the Select Board. “Adopting Australian ballot has definitely strengthened the democratic process in Killington.”

The Australian ballot, also known a secret ballot, allows absentee voters to participate; this is unlike a floor vote that requires attendance at town meeting.

“I don’t have an issue with either one,” said Lucrecia Wonsor, town clerk and treasurer in Killington. “I always felt bad when people couldn’t vote on town meeting because they couldn’t attend the meeting because of work; the good news is that those people have voted every single year.”

The town saw the highest voter turnout in the past 15 years in 2013 when 51 percent of registered voters turned out to cast their ballots on various issues including a contested Select Board seat. In 2014, 31 percent voted. The most recent town meeting held in Killington, which included a contested Select Board race, saw a 37 percent participation.

“We didn’t have as many people as expected,” Wonsor said.

The highest voter turnout for a regular town meeting before Australian ballots began was in 2009 at 29 percent and the lowest was in 2001 at 10 percent.

During the five years before the town switched voting style, voter participation averaged 25 percent.

Killington uses the Australian ballot to vote on officers, budgets and public questions.

“Vermont allows towns to do either way, if one way doesn’t work out they can go the other way,” said Steven Jeffrey, executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.

Across the state, 112 communities use a combination of Australian ballot and floor vote with 77 using only floor votes and 45 using only Australian balloting, according to the secretary of state’s website.

In Tinmouth, they use a combination of floor vote and Australian ballot. After a slim margin of two votes, the town switched exclusively to Australian ballot for a few years but eventually returned to floor voting on all issues except officers, said Gail Fallar, town clerk and treasurer in Tinmouth.

“There’s good points on both sides and that’s why we now have the compromise,” Fallar said.

While voting in Timouth may have increased — as it did in Killington — when the switch was made, attendance at the information meeting decreased.

Fallar, Wonsor and Jeffrey all expressed the same concern about using Australian balloting: less informed voters.

“I realized that Australian ballot gives people more opportunity,” Wonsor said. “I’m just disappointed when people don’t take the time to understand what they have been voting on.” 

Comment: Exactly! I've monitored attendance at the "Informational Meetings" and it has gone down every year since Australian Ballot was voted in. 

Vito