Vermont officials and advocates tackle voting accessibility concerns ahead of November election

A voter carries ballots past a booth in Shelburne on Primary Day, Tuesday, August 11, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Voter rights advocates are pushing on several fronts to ensure voting access for Vermonters ahead of the general election in November. The Secretary of State’s office launched a voter accessibility task force in coalition with advocacy groups last year that focused on expanding resources for people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, survivors of domestic and sexual violence and people who are incarcerated.  Nursing home residents were also identified as a group with voter accessibility needs, said Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas. Nursing home groups have already been working to meet those needs, including guidance in September from the Vermont Health Care Association. The guidance is aimed at providing clarity on federal and state regulations relating to residents’ rights and the voting assistance process in nursing homes in Vermont. “I hope that the guidance that we created will help people be more confident in and more willing to assist people who need assistance in exercising their right to vote,” Kaili Kuiper, state long-term care ombudsman with Vermont Legal Aid, said, who provided input on the guidance. The effort followed a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services memo in July , reminding nursing facilities and staff that they must avoid inference, coercion or influencing residents while preserving and promoting the right to vote for residents.  The memo was issued after a social worker was charged with election fraud in Texas for unlawfully registering residents to vote and an investigation by law enforcement officials in Wisconsin into allegations that eight people “whose mental capacities had diminished due to age or disease” voted. The guidance only reinforces existing law and is not a change in regulations.  Kuiper said that she worried that the memo would cause a “chilling effect.”