Secretary of State Copeland Hanzas - Statewide Canvass of VT 2026 Primary Election Results 8/18/2026

Thank you for being here. All right. So, good morning. Um, this is the formal occasion where we uh uh look at review all of our results and certify them. I am Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas. Uh, with me today is our elections director Sean Shehan and our deputy secretary uh Lauren Hibbert. Uh, Tom Cotch representing the Republican party, Heather Thomas uh representing the Progressive Party and May Hanland representing the Vermont Democrats. So, uh, the purpose of today's canvas is to certify the results and declare the winners of the August 11th, um, primary. Uh, so we'll be taking a look at the federal and the statewide candidates today. And, um, the Secretary of State's mission is to always provide, uh, secure and accurate election results. Um, I know that the time between election day and today can be challenging. We have many candidates and uh news editors and the public asking when are we going to see official results. Um this process is laid out very carefully in um in statute and gives us the time necessary to coordinate with our 247 uh town and city clerks uh to make sure that we all have all of our official numbers. Um and today is the day that uh statute prescribes that we will um officially uh review the results. This is always a very careful and deliberate process um because we want to make sure that every Vermontter's uh ballot that was cast is accurately counted and that those results are tallied um accurately. Uh today's canvas of federal and statewide results is an important part of the result certification and sort of kicks off the process for uh preparations for the November general election. Um, this month's uh, primary was also the first statewide election supported by our new election management system that we launched last year. And I'm happy to report that the system uh, worked exactly as expected. Uh, which is quite a delight after um, limping along with our previous system for a few years. Um, this new system together with the hard work and excellent training and testing of our elections team and Vermont's 247 town and city clerks uh and their BCAS gives us confidence in the integrity and the accuracy of the results that we're going to certify today. Um, I'm also glad to share some of the highlights around uh participation for the 2026 statewide primary election. Um, as we've seen consistently throughout the years, the primary lags in participation from the general election. Um, and at times quite significantly. Um, part of that is because in the general election, we mail a ballot to every active registered voter. Um, and we have not as a state chosen to do that in our primary yet. However, we had 112,447 Verers cast votes in the primary. That's a 22% turnout this time. Um, which was up from a 15% turnout in 2024. So, that's nice to see an improvement uh in participation in this election. Um, I want to give some special shoutouts because there were some uh some highlights of communities that were um more engaged than the average. Um, the towns of Victory, Callus, Killington, and Worcester topped 40% turnout. Um, and of Vermont's 20 largest municipalities, uh, the top three for voter turnout were Montpelier at 36%, Shelurn at 34%, and Burlington at 31%. Uh, 24% of those voted early, so about 27,000 voters uh, voted early. And this proportion was a little bit down from the 30% of voters who voted early in 2024. So, a lot of election day um turnout compared to 2024. And with that, I'm going to hand it over to Sha Sheen, who will walk us through the process of uh signing and certifying. I hope you're all ready to do a lot of signing. >> And you said carry a couple of hands. We have pens. Those who need them. >> You have one. Okay. >> Thank you, Secretary. And also as we'll pass around to those signing kind of a an overall guidepost of of where we'll be going. We'll be going by by party. We have here the official report of the of the canvas. I can can pass around. You can can take take one and pass it along. That will be up on our website later this afternoon. In addition, we have one copy if anyone wants to stay and look through it of the the very in-depth uh by by town um county information here, hundreds of pages. So, we didn't want to take down all our forests with copies of those, but that will be up on the website as well. In addition, we have two documents which will be up on the website this afternoon on turnout. One breaks down voter turnout by party. So each each town voter turnout by party and then the other has the breakout of votes cast early uh versus votes cast on election day again by by town. And again both of those documents will be up on the website this afternoon going through each of the races. will be going through the parties in alphabetical order in the uh order by which the offices are listed on the ballot. There's going to be six copies of each and in cases where there's a winner, there'll be a certificate of nomination to sign as as well. Uh you'll see the four names here. Um and and the parties under each for those of you who are the designates will sign on that and we will pass in a counterclockwise direction. Deputy Secretary Hbert will collect the pile at the end. Uh anyone who wants a copy for your party's records of any of these will be able to get those at the end as well. And we'll also have a copy of the certificate to send to the winner in the cases of those races. and we'll have copies for the archive as as well. So, a lot of signing. Thank you in advance. The the first the first race is on the Democratic Party is the race for representative to Congress. Becca Balot had 79,679 votes as the only named candidate. There were 1,272 writeins, 39 over votes, 7,916 blank votes. So the winner with 89.62% of the vote was Becca Balant. >> It's just an extra. >> Um, yeah, we have copies, multiple copies. one to go to the the winner. We have six of each. >> This is gonna be fun. >> Y >> good thing you brought new pens. [laughter] We didn't want to run out of >> And a couple spare pens, too. New pens and spare pens. >> Two. Three. The Second race on the Democratic ballot, the race [clears throat] for for governor for the election in the office of governor. The following results were tallied. Amanda Janu 39,614 votes. Alli Richards 37,570 votes, 359 total writeins, 78 over votes, 8,135 blank votes. The winner with 44 56% of the vote is Amanda Januk. One question. Uh why can't we have all this information on one sheet? So we sign one certifying all these races instead of all these pieces of paper. Um that's certainly a process of consideration we could we could look at. Certainly we need the winner certificate to be separate but we certainly could look at that process. We appreciate the the feedback. The next race, the Democratic Party is the office of Lieutenant Governor. The following results were tallied. Molly Gray, 50,84 votes. Ryan McLaren, 23,111 votes. Esther Charleston, 9,135. Total writins, 587. Over votes, 49 blank votes, 5,140. The winner with 57.23% 23% of the vote is Molly Gray. Next race for the Democratic Party, the election of the office of state treasurer. The following results were tallied. Mike Pichek with 75,777 votes. Total writeins 740. Over votes 46. Blank votes 12,343. The winner with 85.23% of the vote is Mike Pich. In the next race on the Democratic ballot for Secretary of State, the following results were tallied. Sarah Copeland and Hanzis, 72,355 votes, 972 writeins, 10 over votes, 15,569. The winner with 81.38% of the vote, Sarah Copeland has us. Congratulations. Thank you. >> All right. You got to stop voting for yourself twice, [laughter] >> Tom. I'm not sure I know how to do that. [laughter] Next race on the Democratic ballot was for the election of Office of Auditor of Accounts. The following results were tallied. Tim Ash with 53,082 votes. Nicholas Braater 8,897 votes. Dan Tol 8,532. 362 total writeins, 51 over votes, and 17,982 blank votes. The winner with 59.71% of the vote is Tamesh. Thank you. And the final vote on the Democratic ballot, the election of office of attorney general. The following results are tallied. Charity R. Clark, 72,943 votes. There were 651 writeins, 13 over votes, 15,299 blank votes. The winner with 82.05% of the vote is Charity R. Clark. >> [clears throat] >> This is where I shouldn't take it. My brother's [cough] signature. As you you sign those final sheets, this concludes the canvas for the Democratic party. We will now move on to the canvas of return of votes for the progressive nominations for the August 11th primary. For the election of office of representative to Congress, the following results were tallied. 276 right in votes, two over votes, 196 blank votes because none of the writins received the requisite 250 votes uh to win the nomination. There is there's no nomination for representative to Congress. We will still certify the the results. Um there's a six sheet snow no winter certificate in this instance. >> Where are the individual writing? >> Uh they are on the uh they're on the website on the the election results web page for for this this race. Um, accordance to new state law act act 70 of 2025 every write in is counted and reported if there is a race where there's no named candidates. So on the election results website uh every one of those writeins [clears throat] will be be reported out >> but if there is a a candidate preprinted then the right in votes are not individually >> only if they register um to vote. Yeah. So if there is a preprinted candidate, a named named candidate on the on the ballot, then according to act act 70 only those named candidates as well as the named candidates who are running in another party's primary but receive votes um in a different primary for the same office, they're reported even if they don't register. And then anybody who registered by the Thursday before the election either with our office through the online form or individually to clerk's offices, they're also counted and reported individually. The second for the office of governor for the progressive party, the following results were tallied. 322 writeins, four over votes, 148 blank votes. Again, none of the writeins received the requisite 250 votes. So, there is no nominee uh in the race for for governor. the progressive ballot for the election of the office of lieutenant governor. The following results were tallied. 275 writeins, four over votes, 195 blank votes. Again, none of the writeins received the requisite 250 votes. So, there is no nominee for lieutenant governor. >> [snorts] >> Yeah, That's one of the results. >> In the progressive primary for the office of state treasurer, the following results were tallied. Zachary Hample, 289 votes. There were 76 rightins, five over votes, 104 blank votes. The winner with 60.97% of the vote is Zachary Hample. I don't know how, but one of these days, [laughter] >> you're on the record. He didn't uh he didn't [laughter] tell you how much this involved, did he? >> The progressive primary for the election of office to Secretary of State, the following results were tallied. Rachel Shaw, 320 votes. There were 52 writeins, one overvote, 101 blank votes. The winner with 67.51% of the vote is Rachel Shaw. on the progressive primary for the election of office of auditor of accounts. The following results were tallied. There were 237 total writeins, four over votes, 233 blank votes. No one received the requisite number of votes to win. So there's no nominee for auditor of accounts. The final return for the progressive ballot is the office of attorney general. The following results were tallied. 218 total writeins, two over votes, 254 blank votes. There is no nominee for attorney general. Thank you. This concludes the canvas of the return of votes for the progressive party primary. We will now move to the to canvas the return of votes for the Republican primary for the election of office of representative to Congress. The following results were tallied. Gerald Malloy 15,662 votes. Mark Coaster 4,523. There were 344 writeins, 48 over votes, and 2490 [clears throat] blank votes. The winner with 67.90% of the vote is Gerald de Moving to the election of the office of governor. The following results were tallied. Phil Scott, 21,466 votes. There were 333 writeins, 23 over votes, and 1,245 blank votes. The winner with 93.06% of the vote is Phil Scott. for the election to the office of lieutenant governor. The following results were tallied. John S. Rogers, 20,173 votes. There were 585 writeins, 13 over votes, 2,296 blank votes. The winner with 87.45% of the vote is John S. Rogers. >> [snorts] >> For the election to the office of state treasurer, the following results were tallied. Hbrook page 17,968 votes. There were 660 writeins, 48 over votes, 4,391 blank votes. The winner with 77.89% of the vote is H. Brook Page. Congratulations. for the election to the office of secretary of state. The following results were tallied. Hbrook page 17,542 votes. There were 467 writeins, 13 over votes, 5,045 blank votes. The winner with 76.05% of the vote is age page. Congratulations. for election to the office of auditor of accounts. The following results were tallied. Hbook page 16,870. There were 570 writeins, 33 over votes, and 5,594 blank votes. The winner with 73.13% of the vote is Hbrook Page. And the final >> office for the Republican canvas is the office of attorney general. The following results were tallied. Hbrook Page 16,687 votes. There were 581 rights, 32 over votes, 5,767 blank votes. The winner with 72.34% of the vote is age page. Congratulations victories. This concludes the canvas of returns for the Republican primary and the the returns for for all all three. As we mentioned before, later this afternoon, these all these documents will be posted on the Secretary of State election division website along with the the turnout numbers. We're also still in the process of collecting representative and senatorial and county canvases. Those were all held last week between Wednesday and Friday with yesterday being Battle of Bennington Day, which no longer a state worker holiday. However, many county offices and some town offices uh still celebrated it. And so we are still tracking down canvases from those offices that were closed yesterday. Once we get them all, we will post them on our our website. The other piece that will happen as we move on, those candidates who are advanced to the general election will appear on the Secretary of State's election division candidate page in the spreadsheet for the general election candidates. That will happen later this week as soon as we do get the all of those those canvases uh from the representative clerks, senate clerks, and and county clerks. In the meantime, independent candidates and minor party candidates are on that sheet as are justice of the peace candidates. Uh towns have the option of conducting their justice of the peace elections and ballot questions on the back of the general election ballot. those towns that opt to do so have taken their nominations for the party nominations and the independent justice of the peace um petitions and entered those into the election management system and they appear on on that spreadsheet. The reason I bring it up here is democracy is a team sport as the secretary often says and particularly for those justice of the peace uh nominations, those really are local elections. We rely on all of the local parties to approve those. The clerks look at them as well, but because those nominations are submitted um by parties, how their names are written and how they'll appear on the ballot is something we want everybody to prove. So to the extent uh each of your parties can reach out to your town committees, encourage them to go to that candidate page and look to make sure that all of their justice of the peace candidates are appearing the way they they wish to be appeared. [snorts] >> Um question Sean a copy of these certifications will be as has been done in the will be sent to the candidate successful candidates. >> Correct. Yes. the copy of the the script which will be sent to the successful candidates. Yes. >> Any final words? >> Um I think the only other pitch that I want to make all three parties aware of is that we have a a fast approaching deadline for your nominees to fill out their um their profile, their candidate profile in the voter guide. Um we will be closing that off next Monday. We yes we had yeah we had we had announced uh today is the deadline we've been communicating by tonight I think as we're still collecting those canvas and because of getting the the results from uh from the clerks and from around the state to advance those we have extended that that deadline. So Monday will be the final final deadline. We need everybody to get their information. So, it's uh it's very easy. Once uh a candidate goes into their campaign finance profile, they can uh see the the button to click to fill out their candidate profile. Um for the general election, we will be mailing a a voter guide to each household in Vermont. And I would hate to see blanks uh with no information about your candidates. And so if you know folks who have not yet filled out their profile, please encourage them to do that ASAP. And along the lines of finding it in the campaign finance system, when somebody first registers their campaign finance account, they won't see the the widget, the button to give the candidate statement. That has to be matched confirming that they are going to be a named candidate on the on the ballot. And so for that that reason, while we're extending the deadline to to Monday, people shouldn't wait until Monday to register in their campaign finance account for for two reasons. One, by statute, they have to register in the campaign finance system prior to submitting their consent of of candidate or their nomination form. So everybody should be registered in the campaign finance system by now. Um, but number two, because they need to be be matched. So, at least having that done this week will allow that to be matched so people can go in and then fill out their candidate statement, submit their their photograph and links to any uh social media handles they would like. >> Great. It's good that we don't have the windows open. That be a terror. We have to bring rocks down the neighbors. Quite as breezy as it was on Saturday. still on that. >> Yes. >> Tell me if I sign Donald Trump to one of these. Anybody notice? >> Yes, I am checking days like today that I wish my name had fewer letters. fastition here. I don't think he signed up. All right. All right. So, thank you so much for being here. On behalf of your respective parties. Uh, as always, if there's anything that uh you or your candidates need from our office, please don't hesitate to reach out uh through whatever channels necessary. Um, my elections team stands at the ready to facilitate and answer questions. Um, and I am also happy to uh to field any inquiries. So, uh, thank you for being part of this process today. Now we can turn our attention to the general election and u may we have a a good election and as they say high turnout wide margins boring boring boring let's just >> let's just yes I heart boring boring elections there we go [laughter] but as always thank you >> thank >> [music] [music]