August 22, 2026
By Marguerite Adelman
Perhaps you’ve heard people say “discrepancies between Election Night reports and official certified results are proof of vote-rigging.”
The truth is official certified results are the product of a rigorous, well-defined, and transparent certification process.
Election Night reports are typically incomplete and unverified. Changes between the incomplete and official results are normal and expected.
Unofficial results are provided on Election Night for the convenience of voters, candidates, and the media.
Vermont clerks then have 48 hours to complete a rigorous process that includes analyzing write-in votes and double-checking entrance checklists to ensure all votes are accounted for.
As a result, there may be some minor differences between preliminary, unofficial results on Election Night, and the official, certified results that have undergone diligent verification. This is not an indicator of fraud and demonstrates the detail paid to the careful process of results certification.
Vermont’s statewide results are certified as official a week after the Election by a canvassing committee, made up of the Secretary of State and a tri-partisan committee representing the state’s three major political parties.
Finally, the Secretary of State is legally mandated to conduct a random post-election audit within 30 days of every General Election.
No major legal or formal complaints have targeted Vermont’s physical mechanism for certifying election results. You can trust Vermont’s election certification process.