Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 17 Sec. 2586

  • Candidate: means an individual who has taken any affirmative action to become a candidate for public office. See
  • Election: means the procedure whereby the voters of this State, or any of its political subdivisions, select persons to fill public offices or act on public questions. See
  • following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
  • Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
  • Public question: means any question, issue, proposition, or referendum (whether binding or advisory) submitted or required by law to be submitted to the voters of the State or any political subdivision of the State, for a decision. See
  • Secretary: means the Secretary of State. See
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See

§ 2586. Tally sheets; summary sheets; returns

The Secretary of State shall design, prepare, and distribute a sufficient supply of the following forms, which may be used in each polling place during the counting process:

(1) Tally sheets.

(A) These sheets shall provide a place to identify the office or question for which the ballots are being counted, the name of each candidate for that office, and the signature of the pair of election officials actually counting the ballots.

(B) Votes for each candidate or question shall be recorded on the tally sheets by means of “tick” marks or some other convenient system, and the total shall then be written on the tally sheet.

(C) Blank votes (undervotes) and overvotes shall be indicated.

(D) In towns that count ballots by hand, all votes must be accounted for on the tally sheets.

(2) Summary sheets. These sheets shall be used to record the totals shown on all tally sheets in the polling place for each office or public question, and the sum of such totals. They shall provide a place to identify the office or public question, the candidates, and the signatures of the presiding officer and at least one other election official.

(3) Return. The return shall be prepared in duplicate and used to make the official report from each polling place of the grand totals of all votes cast in the polling place. It shall identify the polling place, and each candidate or question receiving votes, and shall be signed by the presiding officer and at least one other election official. (Added 1977, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2017, No. 50, § 42.)