Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Secretary of State presenter outlines voter guide mailings, reduced federal grants and $1.8M media request
Summary
A presenter from the Vermont Secretary of State's office told a legislative committee the office will begin mailing a voter guide to every household in 2026, warned of declining federal HAVA funding, requested a base $450,000 general fund appropriation, and asked for $1.8 million for local media grants and $90,000 for community radio.
A presenter from the Vermont Secretary of State's office told a legislative committee that the office plans to mail a voter guide to every Vermont household beginning in 2026 and is requesting several targeted appropriations and staffing changes to support elections and local civic media.
The presenter said the digital voter guide created in November 2024 will be mailed and matched to each household’s ballot style so recipients receive candidate contact information, websites and brief statements. "For 2026 and, and beyond, we will be mailing a copy of the voter guide to each household in Vermont," the presenter said, and added the office expects guides to go out on the same schedule as ballots to overseas and military voters so recipients will have guides before they receive ballots.
Why it matters: the office framed the mailed guide as a response to diminishing local news coverage and as a tool to help voters compare candidates even in towns without newspapers.
Federal funding and base request
The presenter flagged a steep decline in federal…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
