1. Majority vote is required to elect officials at floor meeting. Vermont law requires local officials to receive a majority of all votes cast in order to be elected during an open town meeting. 17 V.S.A. §2660. Candidates who receive a plurality of votes will be elected in towns that use the Australian ballot to vote for officers. In a floor vote, if no candidate receives the majority in the first paper ballot, then another vote must be taken. If no person has obtained a majority by the end of the third vote, then the moderator shall announce that the person who received the least votes in the last vote shall no longer be a candidate, and continue voting in like fashion until a candidate receives a majority.

2. Write-in candidate needs at least 30 votes or one percent to be elected. The law sets a minimum threshold for a person seeking election on a write-in campaign. If the person receiving the most votes is a write-in candidate in an Australian ballot election, the person must have received at least 30 votes OR the votes of one percent of the registered voters, whichever is less. 17 V.S.A. §2682c).

3. Political party designation for local office rare – but possible. Few communities include political party designations for local offices. In most cases it is done because the municipal charter provides for such listing. However, the law permits political party designations if the town has voted to provide for such listings, or in the absence of such a vote, if the legislative body votes to permit political party designations.

4. Upon the request of seven voters, paper ballots are used for non-election articles. If at least seven voters support a request that paper ballots be used for voting during a special or annual meeting, then paper ballots must be distributed and used, except when the vote is for candidates for office. 17 V.S.A. §2658. This request must be made separately for each article. Generally one person makes the motion to call for paper ballots and the moderator looks to see whether there are six people who would "second" the motion.

5. Guardian may not register or vote on behalf of charge. There is no power of attorney or guardianship order that allows the person with the power of attorney or the guardian to register to vote on behalf of the other person OR to cast a vote for the other person. A person may receive assistance in completing an application to the checklist but the citizen that is applying must sign the application for him or herself. When a person is physically unable to sign their names on the voter registration form, they may mark an X or take an oath swearing to the statement on the form. This mark or oath has to be witnessed and attested to by someone such as a town clerk, a notary public, a justice of the peace, etc. Similarly, a family member or authorized person can request that an absentee ballot be sent to another voter, but each voter must vote his or her own ballot. A voter can also ask for assistance from any person of his or her choice, but no one can "substitute" vote for another.

6. Non-voters may only speak at Town Meeting with permission of the assembly. Only legal voters of the town can speak at town meeting unless there has been a motion to suspend the rules and permit non-voters to address the group and the motion has passed by two-thirds of the voters. It is a good practice when making such a motion to include some parameters in the motion, such as non-voters may speak to an issue only once, for a time not to exceed five minutes, etc.

7. Moderator may reject amendment if not germane. The moderator can only allow amendments to articles that are reasonably related to the article as warned. The purpose of the town meeting warning is to enable voters to know what issues are going to be decided. Because no decisions can be made on issues that were not warned, it would not be a valid act of the town to amend an article so that it is no longer relevant or germane to the original Article. See Kaeser v. Town of Starksboro, 116 Vt 251 (1950)

8. Voters may challenge ruling of moderator. During a traditional floor voting town meeting, any voter can challenge any ruling on points of order by the moderator by requesting that the issue be put to the vote of the assembled voters. Many wise moderators will encourage voters to challenge a ruling when they are in doubt by prefacing the ruling such as "The chair is doubtful, but will rule that …." This encourages a voter to rise to challenge. Robert’s Rules provides that any voter can rise to ask that the ruling be voted upon by the voters present. It is difficult for any moderator to know every rule and anticipate every type of motion that may be presented. Robert’s Rules thus allows the majority of those voters present to decide what is fair and just under the circumstances.

9. Voters may limit debate by two-thirds vote. In order to limit debate on a motion a vote of two-thirds is required. A motion to limit debate takes precedence over all debatable motions and can be applied to any or all pending debatable motions. Of course, it is out of order when another voter has the floor. The motion itself must be seconded and is not debatable. Simply moving the previous question can also close debate. This also requires a two-thirds vote.

10. Absentee ballots must be available 20 days before Town Meeting. Towns that hold Australian ballot voting must make early and absentee ballots available at least 20 days prior to town meeting. 17 V.S.A. § 2681a.

11. Electorate sets date of annual meeting. The school board cannot change the date of the annual school meeting on its own motion. Rather, it must be voted by the electorate. The voters must authorize changing the date of an annual school district meeting by voting at an annual or special meeting on an article: "Shall the ______________Town school district hold its annual meeting on ___________." 16 V.S.A.§422.

12. Town and town school district moderators are separate offices. The town school district must elect a moderator as the first order of business at its floor meeting or by Australian ballot, if the district has voted to elect all officers by Australian ballot. Although the same person may serve as Town Meeting moderator and school district moderator, separate candidacies — and in Australian ballot districts, separate petitions — are required.

13. A town vote to move to Australian ballot applies to the following meeting. If a town wishes to change the way it elects its officers, or votes its budgets, or public questions, it must place an article on the warning as directed in 17 V.S.A. § 2680. If the article to change to Australian ballot passes, the town or district will begin using the Australian ballot at its next special or annual meeting for officers or public questions, and at the next annual meeting for budgets.

14. Town clerks must provide union school district clerk with updated checklist. Vermont law requires town clerks whose towns are members of a union school district to be open for voter registration on the Wednesday before the union school district elections. After the checklist is updated, the clerk must provide an authenticated copy of the checklist to the clerk of the union school district. 16 V.S.A. § 706u. Note that section 706u incorporates by reference the provisions of Title 17 that require the town clerk to have office hours on the Wednesday before each election to allow residents to register to vote.

15. Person cannot serve in two incompatible offices. There is no limit to the number of offices that a person can petition to be added to the ballot in a town that elects by Australian ballot, and no limit to the number of offices a person can be nominated for at a town meeting that elects from the floor. However, if elected, a person can only accept and serve in offices that are compatible (where there is no statutory conflict). A person will need to either resign or not accept one of the offices that create an incompatibility.

16. Election to incompatible offices creates vacancy. When a person is elected to more than one position in the town or school district and the positions are incompatible, the person must resign from one of the positions. This creates a vacancy that must be filled according to statutory procedures, usually by the selectboard posting a notice of a vacancy and then making an appointment. Under Vermont law, the runner-up or next highest vote getter does not move up or become the winner.

17. Vermont statutes prohibit dual office holding in the following situations:

18. Some dual offices are not prohibited by law but nevertheless raise questions of conflict. Note that there are many dual roles that are not prohibited by statute which can nevertheless raise conflicts of interest. For example, nothing would prevent a selectboard member from serving on the road crew or as town clerk or as fire chief. However, it would be a conflict of interest for this board member to participate in decisions related to his or her pay or conditions of employment in the second office. Board members who hold these types of dual offices must take steps to avoid even an appearance of self dealing by not participating in decisions that could be seen as a conflict of interest.

19. Moderator should review rules at the start of Town Meeting. At the beginning of Town Meeting, it is a best practice for the moderator to review the basics of Robert’s Rules and the procedures that will be used in the meeting. This helps voters to be able to participate fully in the meeting. It is especially important for the moderator to remind the voters that any person present can rise to challenge the ruling of the moderator on any procedural issue, and have the procedural issue decided by the voters present.

20. Moderators should not comment on legality of article. It is best practice for moderators at the annual meeting to refrain from speaking to the legality of an article or to give an opinion about the legal effect of taking action on or passing over an article. Even a well-intentioned comment about the legality or impact of an article could be misunderstood as showing partiality for or against an article. If there is truly no one else in the room that can answer a question, and the moderator feels compelled to enter the discussion, the moderator should call for a moderator pro tem to take over, and step down while he or she participates in the debate.

21. Only legal voters can be elected to town office. To be eligible for election as a school board member, a person must be a legal voter in the school district. 16 V.S.A. § 558. Likewise, a town shall choose from among its legally qualified voters for selectboard, town clerk, town treasurer, and a number of other town offices. 17 V.S.A. § 2646. So long as the person is on the checklist by the day of election he or she is eligible for election. The town clerk must add the names of all eligible persons who have properly completed and submitted applications to the checklist before 5:00 p.m. on the Wednesday before the election.