§ 2144 - Deadline for applications - Vermont Statutes

§ 2144. Deadline for applications

(a) The town clerk shall not accept applications for persons' names to be placed on the checklist after 5:00 p.m. on the Wednesday preceding the day of the election. The town clerk's office shall be kept open on the Wednesday preceding the day of the election from no later than 3:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m., for the purpose of receiving applications for addition to the checklist. For purposes of this subsection, a mail application or an application submitted to the department of motor vehicles in connection with a motor vehicle driver's license or an application accepted by a voter registration agency shall be considered to have met the filing deadline established by this subsection if the application is postmarked, submitted or accepted by 5:00 p.m. of the Wednesday preceding the day of the election.

(b) If a person is not eligible to register prior to the voter registration deadline, but expects to be eligible on or before election day, he or she may file with the town clerk a written notice of intention to apply for addition of his or her name to the checklist. The notice shall be filed prior to the voter registration deadline, and the town clerk shall then accept the person's application at any time before the close of the polls on election day, and act upon the application forthwith.

(c) If a person is not eligible to register prior to the voter registration deadline, and has submitted a written notice of intent to apply in accord with subsection (b) of this section, the clerk shall, upon application, allow the applicant to vote absentee. If the application is approved and the name added to the checklist prior to the close of the polls on election day, the early or absentee ballots cast by that voter shall be treated as other valid early or absentee ballots.

(d) In the case of annual meetings and towns that start their annual meetings on any day preceding the first Tuesday in March as authorized in subsection 2640(b) of this title, the "day of election" shall be the first Tuesday in March. (Added 1977, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1979, No. 200 (Adj. Sess.), § 13; 1981, No. 239 (Adj. Sess.), § 9; 1985, No. 198 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; 1991, No. 118 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. Feb. 26, 1992; 1995, No. 4, § 1; 1997, No. 47, § 2; 2001, No. 6, § 12(a), eff. April 10, 2001; 2003, No. 59, § 2; 2007, No. 72, § 1.)