By james art 
LANGROVE — Landgrove, with a population of less than 200, is once again in the running for the highest voter turnout in the state — and community members gave it their all.
“Landgrove always tries to be first or second in turnout, so we make sure our voter rolls are up to date,” said Justice of the Peace Chuck Sweetman, who volunteered at the polls with his wife, Marion, for approximately 25 years. “If someone moved out of town a year ago, we don’t want them to count against us by not showing up to vote.”
“Our crews want to see who got the most during their shift,” said Landgrove City Clerk Crystal Cleary, pointing to a chalk board with staples for each two-hour shift. First of all is the number of early votes: 47 out of 129, or roughly 36 percent.
“Chuck has a long tradition of his shift coming back early,” Cleary laughed.
“Now they’re protesting,” Sweetman replied. (“Do you really want to win like this?” counters Marion.)
At the heart of the friendly competition is a shared pride in the city’s commitment to democracy, perhaps best exemplified by the Sweetmans themselves.
“We’ve probably been working the polls, my wife and I, oh, 25 years or something,” Chuck said. “We have three children. We have five grown grandchildren. Everyone knows that voting is important. You know, they see we did it, their parents did it. That it’s important.”
Chuck beams as he describes an apparent victory a few years ago when a local couple came in at the end of the day to vote, only to then realize their grandson hadn’t voted.
“It was like five or ten minutes past seven,” Sweetman said. “They came back and got him, he voted five minutes before the polls closed, and he’s the guy who put us first in the state that year.”
This year, the Vermont Secretary of State’s office mailed ballots to all registered voters, which Cleary said helped Landgrove further refine their voter checklist. About 10 of the ballots mailed to Landgrove were undeliverable, she said, allowing her to contact neighbors before Election Day.
However, many of the city’s residents are on top of their registration, according to Cleary.
“It’s fun to see the checklist throughout the year when the kids get their first voter registration and see them come,” she explained.
One year, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cleary said a group of young volunteers (learning remotely, not on campus) bolstered Landgrove’s roster of poll workers.
“Now they’ve had that experience,” Cleary said. “When they hear things in the world that may not be true or may be questionable, they know because they’ve had that experience.”
This year, four voters also voted from abroad, Cleary said. “This is an important election for them.”
Throughout the day, Cleary updates the sign outside City Hall after each two-hour shift to show Landgrove’s total voter turnout.
“Everyone is proud that our city has such a high voter turnout,” she said.
“It’s kind of a tradition that people think is really important,” Sweetman said. “One of these years, I’d like to have 100 percent — nobody’s missed.”
Maybe, he said, this would be the year.