A ballot drop box outside the Randolph Town Clerk’s office in October 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger The Vermont Secretary of State’s office is urging voters to make sure they have a current address on file with the state before ballots get mailed out for this fall’s general el ection. After Sept. 1 — which is in less than two weeks — whatever voter addresses the secretary’s office has listed will be used to mail ballots. The state will start sending out ballots late next month ahead of the election on Tuesday, Nov. 3, said Sarah Copeland Hanzas, the secretary of state. Despite rampant national claims to the contrary, mail-in ballots are a safe and secure way to vote, she said. Recent state data shows they are widely used in Vermont. In the 2024 election, nearly two-thirds of people who voted did so by mail, also known as voting absentee. Checking addresses In Vermont, state law requires that every registered voter be mailed a ballot for the biennial general election. Voters can fill out their ballot at home and return it by mail or at a drop-off location. They can also disregard the mail ballot entirely and vote in person on election day. The state does not mail out ballots for primary elections, like the one held earlier this month. If a voter has moved since the 2024 election, though, they should update their address with the state as soon as possible, Copeland Hanzas said. “We want to make sure that ballots are going exactly where the voter lives,” she said.  Voters who will be away from home this fall should submit an absentee ballot request, which will direct their ballot to the address they’ll be at instead. That’s a good option for college students and members of the military who will be overseas, she said.  Voters can verify or change the address that’s on file — or request an absentee ballot — at the online Vermont Voter Portal, which is vote.vermont.gov. They can also contact their local town or city clerk. Voter rolls, mail delays Copeland Hanzas said Vermont puts multiple sets of eyes on every stage in the vote-by-mail process to make sure it’s as accurate and secure as possible. She explained that since last fall, officials in every city and town have completed a legally-mandated review of their local voter checklists to identify anyone who they believe has moved, passed away or otherwise cannot vote there. That review is done by each town’s Board of Civil Authority. Any people who are flagged by the board will not be automatically mailed a ballot this fall unless that person clarifies with local officials that they are listed correctly, Copeland Hanzas said. That means it’s highly unlikely that someone would be mailed a ballot who was not registered to vote in a given city or town. At the national level, President Donald Trump is trying to limit access to mail voting, in part with an executive order in March directing the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver ballots from people who are on a federally-approved list. That followed another order last year attempting to prohibit counting of mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive afterward, among other changes. (In Vermont, election officials must get mail-in ballots back before polls close on Election Day in order to count them.) Federal courts have so far blocked implementation of both orders in response to legal challenges from states, including Vermont, and national voting rights groups. The president continues to disparage mail-in voting, though he has voted by mail himself, including in Florida’s Republican primary earlier this month. Even if Vermonters aren’t concerned about the security of mail-in voting, they may be worried about the timeliness with which their ballot will be delivered. Mail delivery delays are well-documented, especially in the state’s most rural communities.  More than 2,000 people have made complaints to the three members of Vermont’s congressional delegation about mail service so far this year, according to a letter the lawmakers sent Friday to U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner. Copeland Hanzas said that voters should feel confident they will receive a ballot in the mail this year. If they’re concerned about it getting back in time, they can use a ballot dropbox, locations of which are listed online. They can also turn in a filled-out ballot up until polls close on Election Day. Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont Secretary of State urges voters to update state records before ballots get mailed out. ...read more read less