The votes are in…at least in Charlotte

Chea Waters Evans, News Editor
Town Hall was pretty quiet on Election Day this year; a high return of absentee votes meant short lines and small crowds. Photo by Chea Waters Evans
Town Hall was pretty quiet on Election Day this year; a high return of absentee votes meant short lines and small crowds. Photo by Chea Waters Evans.

Charlotters cast their ballots early and enthusiastically this year—out of 3,317 total registered voters in town, 2,920 voted in this year’s November election. Town Clerk Mary Mead and Assistant Town Clerk Sy Koerner weren’t up until all hours of the morning counting, though. Mead said they were finished by 8:00 p.m.

The reason for such an early night, despite so many ballots to count, is absentee and mail-in voting. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Vermont secretary of state’s office mailed ballots to every registered voter in the state. At around 2:30 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3, Mead said she had already put 2,715 ballots through the counting machine; she started at 7:00 a.m. with absentee ballots, which totaled 2,606.

Though the national election has yet to officially declare a victor in the presidential race, Charlotte’s counts were decisive. Following are the official election night results, with the top finishers reported in each category:

U.S. President and Vice President
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris (D): 2, 285
Donald Trump and Mike Pence (R): 511
Jo Jorgensen and Jeremy “Spike” Cohen: 32
Other notable vote counts were Kanye West and Michelle Tidball (I) who received 12 votes, and Howie Hawkins and Angela walker (Green) who received 9 votes.

Representative to Congress
Peter Welch (D): 2,184
Miriam Berry (R): 527

Governor
Phil Scott (R): 1,979
David Zuckerman (P/D): 838

Lieutenant Governor
Molly Gray (D): 1,725
Scott Milne (R): 954
Chris Ericson (P): 48

State Treasurer:
Beth Pearce (D): 1,807
Carolyn Whitney Branagan (R): 645
Alex Wright (I): 104

Secretary of State
Jim Condos (D): 2,019
Brooke Paige (R): 520

Auditor of Accounts:
Doug Hoffer (D/R): 2,166
Chris Ericson (P): 218

Attorney General
T.J. Donovan (D): 2,136
Brooke Paige (R): 465

State Senator, voters chose six
Thomas Chittenden (D): 1,682
Ginny Lyons (D): 1,677
Michael Sirotkin (D): 1,581
Kesha Ram (D): 1,539
Phil Baruth (D/P): 1,444
Christopher Pearson (P/D): 1,097

State Representative
Mike Yantachka (D): 2, 213

High Baliff
Daniel Gamelin (D/R): 1,943

Justice of the Peace, voters chose 12
Jill Abilock
Greg Cluff
Moe Harvey
Lorna Jimerson
Mike Krasnow
Leo Laberge
Patrice Machavern
Robin Reid
Ed Stone
Lucas Trono
Peter Trono
Seth Zimmerman