Secretary of State presenter outlines voter guide mailings, reduced federal grants and $1.8M media request

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 election grant funding, saying states once received about $1,000,000 annually from HAVA/security grants and that last year the state received $272,000. Because of that uncertainty, the office said it will request the standard base general fund amount of $450,000 but is not asking this year for additional general-fund backfill to replace federal shortfalls. "We are going to ask just for our base, $450,000, from the general fund," the presenter said.

The presenter cautioned the committee that future shortfalls could require additional requests depending on federal grant outcomes.

Democracy media grants, community radio and civic journalism awards

As part of its budget ask, the office requested a general fund appropriation of $1,800,000 to support the Vermont Access Network (VAN) and local public-access television stations, describing the allocation as an incremental commitment to help community stations cover municipal meetings and local events. The presenter said the VAN grant "is not nearly as much as it costs to operate these small TV stations," but represents a policy commitment the legislature has made in prior years.

The presenter also described a $90,000 request to distribute funding through the office to 10 community radio stations, and summarized last year’s civic journalism awards as a $50,000 general-fund appropriation that the Vermont Community Foundation matched to reach $100,000, with grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 to upgrade digital capacity at local outlets.

Staffing and contingency on S.206

The presentation included four new position requests: two (a records and information management specialist and a business services administrator) the office said it can cover within existing Secretary of State fund revenues and therefore are presented as not requiring a separate appropriation; two additional positions (an early childhood educator executive officer and a staff attorney) were described as contingent on passage of S.206, the early childhood educator licensing bill, and would be required to implement that program if enacted. The presenter asked the legislature to convert a limited-service municipal services position funded last year into a permanent role to retain the incumbent and continue municipal support services (open-meeting-law assistance, etc.).

Operational issues and election logistics

Committee members raised mail service and postage questions. The presenter warned of likely mail delays and urged voters to return ballots early or use drop boxes, noting Vermont is not a postmarked state and that ballots must be in a town or city clerk’s hands by close of polls. The presenter also explained that postage costs are cyclical—higher in general-election years—and offered to follow up on specific line-item deltas.

What happens next

The presenter said staff would return with further details if the committee requested them. The transcript records committee questions and discussion but no formal motion or vote on the budget items in this session.

Sources and attribution

Quotes and detailed program descriptions in this article come from remarks by the presenter from the Secretary of State's office during the committee presentation.