The writer is a Republican nominee for a state representative seat in the two-member Windham-4 district.
BELLOWS FALLS-I'm not telling anyone how to vote. I just think voters should know about sharply different policies today. Always best to look into them and make up your own mind before you vote.
Taxes and firearms: There was a 2025 bill with an 11% excise tax on firearms and ammunition.
-Democrats: Some Democratic lawmakers supported the proposal.
-Republicans: Generally favor lower taxes and Second Amendment rights.
Abortion: Vermont protects abortion access and sets no specific gestational-week limit.
-Democrats: Generally support current protections.
-Republicans: More likely to support gestational limits.
Noncitizen voting: Winooski allows qualifying legal non-U.S. citizen residents to vote in municipal elections.
-Democrats: Supported expanded local eligibility.
-Republicans: Generally favor citizen-only voting.
Voter ID: Established Vermont voters generally do not have to show ID at the polls. A 2026 bill proposed new government-issued photo-ID requirements.
-Republicans: More likely to support voter ID.
-Democrats: Generally emphasize avoiding additional voting barriers.
Gender-affirming care: Vermont protects gender-affirming care.
-Democrats: Generally support maintaining Vermont's protections.
-Republicans: Generally favor greater parental involvement and additional age-related safeguards or restrictions involving minors.
Criminal justice
-Democrats: Generally emphasize rehabilitation and alternatives to incarceration.
-Republicans: Generally emphasize stronger detention authority for defendants considered dangerous and repeat-offender accountability.
Education: Some Democratic lawmakers supported a proposal protecting instruction on social equity and social justice, including historical systems of oppression, race and gender as social constructs, and power and privilege.
Please check the record, ask were candidates stand and make your mind up for yourself.
Ryan Coyne
Bellows Falls
The writer is a Republican nominee for a state representative seat in the two-member Windham-4 district.
This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.
This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion of the writer. In the newspaper and on this website, we strive to ensure that opinions are based on fair expression of established fact. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, The Commons is reviewing and developing more precise policies about editing of opinions and our role and our responsibility and standards in fact-checking our own work and the contributions to the newspaper. In the meantime, we heartily encourage civil and productive responses at voices@commonsnews.org.