Vermont Seeks to Heat Up Gubernatorial Elections

Author: Katie Saunders

Despite a contentious race for the Vermont governorship shaping up as November nears, last week's primary election boasted the lowest voter turnout in over a decade. According to current estimates by Vermont officials, it is believed only about 10 percent of Vermont's approximately 400,000 registered voters actually voted in the primary.
Joe Acinapura of the state's Republican Party believes that the cause of the low turnout could be the lack of a hot topic to "turn on" the voters. Like many races across the country, this year's race for governor has been focused on unemployment, and trying to find ways to improve and strengthen the Vermont economy. Though many Vermonters are feeling the pressure of the nation's economic downturn, it may not be enough to bring them out to vote.
Scudder Parker, chair of the Vermont Democratic Party, thinks that the low turnout demonstrated the need to encourage voters to the polls. In a rural state such as Vermont, with voters spread out over large areas, the lack of such efforts on the part of the candidates can make a big difference.
Another reason for low voter turnout may be that in Vermont, unlike many other states, voters need not declare a party affiliation. They do select the party along whose lines they will vote during each election, but this can change from one election to the next. Historically this has made the primaries somewhat of a lower profile election than in other states, where voters must register with a specific political party; in such states, registering in this way may be a strong incentive to vote in primary elections.
However, Secretary of Middlebury College and Professor of Political Science Eric Davis argues that there have been high turnouts for primaries in the past, so party registration does not necessarily explain this year's low turnout.
In this year's election more voters chose to place their ballots with the Democratic primaries, which garnered about 2,200 votes, versus 1,800 votes for the Republican primaries. The Progressives received a little over 1,000 votes.
Such numbers may signal a change in Vermont, where Republican ballots have generally received more attention than Democratic ones in primary elections.
Davis was not surprised by the low voter turnout this year. With no major seats up for grabs in this election, he believes it was difficult to attract voters for the primary.
Davis did say, however, that he thought the race for governor would draw voters out to the polls in November.
Though in recent history the Democrats have held a majority of political offices in Vermont, the three candidates preparing for upcoming debates are faced with a true race for governor, for the first time in over fifteen years.