The 2026 Midterm elections are opportunities to change Federal and State leadership across the country. VOTE!
Countdown to the Midterm Congressional ElectionsResist the threats to our democracy and end to the cost of living increases that are bankrupting families and seniors. It begins with your VOTE.
1. Why Your Vote Matters
2. How to Vote
Vermont Election calendar & general information about the Vermont election
Register to Vote: At the Secretary of State website or Vote.org
Know Your Vermont Voting Rights!
Election Guides: VTDigger November 3, 2026 Election Guide
3. Candidates & Ballot Items
Information about Vermont candidates & ballot items
- Vermont Secretary of State site
- Ballotpedia re gubernatorial candidates
- VT Digger Vermont statewide & federal candidates
- Union of Vermont Educators (NEA)
Volunteer / Donate to Support These Local Islands Candidates
— Kim Gleason for Vermont Senate
To volunteer, contact Erin Stoetzner:
To donate: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kim-gleason-1?refcode=directory
— Dave Skinner for Vermont House of Representatives
To volunteer, contact Josie Leavitt:
To donate: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/skinnerforvermont
— Sylvia Jensen for Vermont House of Representatives
To volunteer, contact Sylvia Jensen:
To donate: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/sylvia-jensen-1
4. Protect Local Elections
You Can Become a Poll Observer or Coordinator
The League of Women Voters of Vermont seeks volunteers to serve as Poll Observers on November 3, Election Day, at each polling location in the Islands. The League seeks Coordinators to schedule Poll Observers and coordinate safety measures. Signup form. While we do not anticipate disruption at our local Islands polling locations, we must prepare for the possibility, given the unrelenting attempts by the Trump Administration to seize control of elections and to sow chaos and uncertainty around the elections.
Poll Observers work in shifts, donating 2-4 hours OUTSIDE a polling site, in parking lots and near entrances for voting, to watch for and document any attempt to interfere with voting or voters.
MORE Election Information
Read on for more information and ways to make a difference.
Threats to Fair Elections & Democracy
The tactics in use by both the Trump administration and many States are a series of small-seeming steps, rather than any single dramatic act. Speak up! Voting is key!
- Packing courts, electoral commissions, and prosecutorial offices with loyalists.
- Rewriting constitutions or electoral rules to entrench incumbent advantage.
- A constant repetition of false statements that casts suspicion as well as dulling the senses.
- Reducing polling places and the hours of access. Especially impacted by this are the less mobile and less well-to-do. An example in North Carolina targets Black voters and students.
- Efforts to eliminate vote-by-mail and/or make it more challenging. NY Times 9/10/26 summary of new postal restrictions on mailing and mail-in ballots. See how they impede voting.
- Efforts to reduce States control of their elections and their voter list, to centralize both under an always-partisan Federal government.
- Requiring new documents to register to vote, e.g., a birth certificate. This especially impacts married women whose name no longer matches their birth certificate.
- Eliminating government oversight and watchdog positions.
- Using legitimate-seeming legislation to systematically erode checks and balances.
- Replacing elected positions with government-appointed positions.
- Destroying the arts & cultural icons that foster creativity and pride-of-country.
- Attacking and defunding education, higher education, the press, and the sciences and arts.
About Voting Laws
Changes and proposed changes to our voting laws to them that will make voting more difficult for many. The Trump administration intends to discourage voting through intimidation at polls, reducing the places to vote, imposing new rules for vote by mail (which especially impact rural and senior voters), the threat of special challenges to voting by women who, due to marriage, may have a name different from their birth surname. Voting law changes and threats increase at the State level as well. The latest State roundup.
Gen Z: Please Vote. Your Vote Counts!
Your voices matter. Please vote and be heard! “Youth and student organizing poses a real threat to authoritarians trying to concentrate power. Some of the most effective opposition and pro-democracy movements have been led by youth organizers. Young voters are more likely to be students living on campus or frequent movers.
Stricter ID laws and changes to residency requirements specifically target the flexibility young people need to vote. This is by design — introducing confusing, restrictive, and constantly changing policies discourages young people from voting. And efforts to detain, intimidate, and arrest Gen Z activists, students, and young migrants are part of the same playbook.” Source: Protect Democracy, The Gen Z Tookit
Phone Banking—Virtual Sessions
On Sundays 4-6 pm, Lean Left Vermont holds a “Sunday Power Hour” in which they provide full training and the opportunity to sit in on live calls with an experienced caller. Once trained, Lean Left Vermont provides the chance to recruit poll observers and voter assistance in several key states through phone banking.
Consider helping with phone banking. These Sunday sessions offer you the opportunity to recruit poll observers and hotline volunteers for states with legislatures that are working hard to suppress the vote such as New Hampshire.
Canvas in NY-21 With Other Vermonters
Attorney Jim Dumont from Bristol has been coordinating groups from Vermont to cross the lake and knock on doors together as a group in support of Blake Gendebien (D), a dairy farmer running one of the most watched House races in the country in NY-21 (which has been Elise Stefanik’s district). The campaign runs a Zoom Training on Saturdays at 10am that covers the canvassing process from start to finish. You can sign up for training here: https://forms.gle/NVRTyFo55VjeNxTQ9. To find out more about joining the Vermont crew, contact Jim Dumont at
Support the People Who Report The Truth
Trump continually attacks the press, branding journalists as treasonous or worse for accurately reporting the news. We need to support the independent journalists who are putting it all on the line to report what is happening in this country. Think about who your go-to people are who warn and inform and report the truth. If they have a paid subscription, that presents an opportunity to support them. It’s in our best interest to make sure they are well funded for the fight ahead.