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Democracy, bake sales and dancing: Scenes from the 2024 election in Vermont

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Democracy, bake sales and dancing: Scenes from the 2024 election in Vermont


Vermonters across the state showed up to polling places on Tuesday to cast their ballots in national and statewide races.

Here are some scenes from Election Day and the night that followed as results rolled in.

Lexi Krupp

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Vermont Public

First-time voter Robert McCulloch, 49, from West Berlin said he wanted to vote this election because of the economy. “We need someone in office who knows what they’re doing,” he said. “My son is here — this election is probably going to define our future in a very big way, and I wanted him to see that.” McCulloch speaks here with Justice of the Peace Joey Connor at the Berlin town offices.

Woman in apron stands behind counter of pastries.

Sabine Poux

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Jenny Bates set up a bake sale at Burnham Hall, a polling location in Lincoln. It’s a fundraiser for the town library. There’s even a basket with “I.O.U.” forms on the counter, for hungry voters without cash on hand.

woman holds an "I voted" sticker

Sabine Poux

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Vermont Public

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Sharon Kotei, 19, is a first-time voter who attends Middlebury College. Kotei’s professor gave her a ride to the Middlebury Recreation Center, her polling location.

A man sits at a table with a tablet system set up. He wears headphones and uses a button pad. A blonde woman sits nearby, speaking to him.

Nina Keck

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Vermont Public

Joshua Tabor votes in Rutland City with help from the Omniballot accessible voting system. Rutland City Clerk Tracy Kapusta helped him learn how to use it for the first time.
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A man in a brown sweater holds a pencil, and has a binder filled with paper open in front of him. To his left are stickers that say "future voter" and "I voted."

Howard Weiss-Tisman

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Vermont Public

Melvin Twitchell, Londonderry justice of the peace, staffs the town’s polling place.

A man walks past several voting booths that bear an American flag and the word "VOTE"

Lexi Krupp

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Gov. Phil Scott walks through his polling place in Berlin. Scott cast his presidential vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.

A woman holds a stack of papers as a man to her left hands over another sheet of paper. A hand is seen filling out a form in one corner.

Raquel C. Zaldívar

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Townshend Town Clerk Ellenka Wilson, right, speaks to a voter at the Townshend Town Hall polling place. Wilson said it was very busy, probably near a record turnout. The town held an election night square dance in the same building as the polling place.

Two women, with their arms interlinked at the elbow smile and dance. A band is playing in the background.

Raquel C. Zaldívar

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New England News Collaborative

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Dina Rudick, center, dances with Sophia Craig, left, during the election night square dance in Townshend.

A college student center like room filled with students in casual clothes with notebooks and water bottles.

Lexi Krupp

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Vermont Public

A watch party packed the student center at Middlebury College on Tuesday night. Students cheered when Illinois was called for Harris.
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A person stands in a dark room looking down at their phone. They are wearing a camo hat with orange text on it.

Sophie Stephens

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Vermont Public

Alex Rucker wore a camo-printed Harris-Walz hat to the Vermont Democratic Party’s election night event on Tuesday.

Through a glass window, people sit in rows of chairs in front of a television showing CNN's election night coverage.

Zoe McDonald

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Attendees of Phil Scott’s election night party at the Associated General Contractors garage in Montpelier watch the U.S. presidential race results. The Associated Press called the race for former President Donald Trump early Wednesday.

A crowd of people look off to the left and clap.

Sophie Stephens

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Attendees of the Vermont Democratic Party election night 2024 celebration cheer for Sen. Bernie Sanders — including his wife, Jane Sanders, and Margaret Cheney, Sen. Peter Welch’s wife.

People are gathered around a small table, talking and laughing, inside a garage decorated with construction materials and signs.

Zoe McDonald

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Vermont Public

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Attendees visit at Gov. Phil Scott’s election night party at the Associated General Contractors garage in Montpelier.

Photos by Nina Keck, Sabine Poux, Lexi Krupp, Sophie Stephens, Zoe McDonald, Howard Weiss-Tisman and Raquel C. Zaldívar.

Have questions, comments, or tips? Send us a message.





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Noah Kahan, Vermont consumers and venues voice support for ticket resale limits

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A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month. “This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate. “Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers. In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.”We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time. The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap. The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill. “I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state. “When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said. The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.

A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.

Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month.

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“This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.

The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate.

“Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers.

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In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.

“We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time.

The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap.

The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill.

“I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”

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Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state.

“When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said.

The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.



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Meet the 95-year-old Vermont herbarium volunteer who had a fern named for her

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Meet the 95-year-old Vermont herbarium volunteer who had a fern named for her


BURLINGTON, Vt. (InvestigateTV) — For 28 years, Hilda White has shown up at the University of Vermont’s Pringle Herbarium to do a job most people have never heard of: mounting plants.

Now 95 years old, White has carefully preserved more than 50,000 plant specimens — pressing and affixing them to archival paper so they can be studied and referenced for generations to come.

“If I mount the plants, the plants will be around for hundreds of years, barring any unforeseen accidents or anything,” White said.

Birthday gift unlike any other

For her 95th birthday, the herbarium gave her a gift unlike any other: a newly discovered fern, found in Colombia in 2023, was officially named for her.

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The plant — a Christmas fern — was discovered by Wes Testo, now the director of the Pringle Herbarium collection, during a research trip to South America.

“I was walking through the forest there, and I saw this just spectacular fern,” Testo said. “I knew immediately it was something I hadn’t seen before.”

After further research confirmed it was a species new to science, Testo and his colleagues decided to name it for White: Polystichum hildae.

“Oh, I was absolutely blown away,” White said when she learned of the honor.

“You can’t imagine, I cried all afternoon.”

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‘Library for plants’

White’s work at the herbarium is kind of a library for plants.

“I can’t draw, but this is my artistic outlet,” she said.

Testo said White’s contributions have been essential to the research conducted in the collection, which now houses 400,000 plant specimens in a single room.

“Hilda mounted a huge amount of the specimens you see here,” Testo said. “Her contributions are absolutely essential to the research we do here.”

The collection’s survival is not something White or Testo take for granted. In 2017, a fire broke out at Torrey Hall, where the collection was housed at the time. Testo was in South America doing research when he received word.

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“All I could see from an email in Colombia — the roof on fire. I thought my whole Ph.D. was going up in flames along with the whole collection here,” Testo said.

White was on her way into work when the fire broke out. Staff and volunteers, including White, worked to restore and remount the damaged plants. The collection has since been relocated to the Jeffords Building.

No plans to stop

White says she has no plans to stop.

“Oh no! I’ll be here as long as I can,” she said.

And when asked what she planned to give Testo for his birthday in return for the honor of having a plant named after her, White kept it simple.

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“He just got good wishes!”

Read the full story.



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Swanton honors WWI soldier with new historic marker

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Swanton honors WWI soldier with new historic marker


A new roadside historic marker was unveiled outside Riverside Cemetery, honoring Cpl. Leonard A. Lord, the first Vermonter killed in action during World War I.The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation dedicated the marker during a ceremony held at the site, recognizing Lord’s service and sacrifice more than a century after his death.Lord was killed in April 1918 in France during heavy artillery fire while serving with the 26th “Yankee” Division. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 at Fort Ethan Allen.After his death overseas, Lord’s remains were later returned to Swanton in 1921 and reinterred at Riverside Cemetery, just yards from where the new marker now stands.Officials say the marker is part of Vermont’s long-running effort to preserve local history and highlight individuals who shaped the state’s past.U.S. Army SSgt. Stephen Prochniak reflected on the importance of remembrance.“History is alive in all of us,” Prochniak said. “It’s something that will probably be here longer than any of us are alive. And that’s important. It preserves it not just for us, but for our kids and their kids.”The marker now stands as the 335th installed through the state’s historic preservation program.

A new roadside historic marker was unveiled outside Riverside Cemetery, honoring Cpl. Leonard A. Lord, the first Vermonter killed in action during World War I.

The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation dedicated the marker during a ceremony held at the site, recognizing Lord’s service and sacrifice more than a century after his death.

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Lord was killed in April 1918 in France during heavy artillery fire while serving with the 26th “Yankee” Division. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 at Fort Ethan Allen.

After his death overseas, Lord’s remains were later returned to Swanton in 1921 and reinterred at Riverside Cemetery, just yards from where the new marker now stands.

Officials say the marker is part of Vermont’s long-running effort to preserve local history and highlight individuals who shaped the state’s past.

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U.S. Army SSgt. Stephen Prochniak reflected on the importance of remembrance.

“History is alive in all of us,” Prochniak said. “It’s something that will probably be here longer than any of us are alive. And that’s important. It preserves it not just for us, but for our kids and their kids.”

The marker now stands as the 335th installed through the state’s historic preservation program.



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