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When it comes to voting access, Vermont ranks high while New Hampshire ranks last. Why?

A blue and white envelope containing a vote by mail ballot.
Bill Oxford
/
iStock
A recent study found Vermont ranks third among all states for ease and access to voting.

Vermont is the third best state to vote in. And neighboring New Hampshire is considered the worst, according to a recent nonpartisan academic study.

Called the Cost of Voting Index, the research updates work that established the relative “cost of voting” during presidential election cycles in each of the 50 states from 1996 to 2020. This year’s study factors in changes to voting laws that have happened across the U.S. since the 2020 presidential election.

Vermont jumped from 23rd place in 2020 to third place this year. This was largely because the state passed laws making it easier to vote,. It's now one of eight states that are entirely vote-by-mail and that send ballots to all registered voters ahead of Election Day.

Our guest is:

  • Michael Pomante, a former university professor with expertise in voting access and co-author of the Cost of Voting Index

Broadcast at noon on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2022; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

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

Connor Cyrus joined Vermont Public as host and senior producer in March 2021. He was a morning reporter at WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island. A graduate of Lyndon State College (now Northern Vermont University), he started his reporting career as an intern at WPTZ, later working for WAGM in Presque Isle, Maine, and WCAX Channel 3, where he covered a broad range of stories from Vermont’s dairy industry to the nurses’ strikes at UVM Medical Center. He’s passionate about journalism’s ability to shed light on complex or difficult topics, as well as giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Tedra joined Vermont Public as a producer for Vermont Edition in January 2022. Before moving to Vermont, she was a journalist in New York City for 20 years. She has a master’s degree in journalism from New York University.