About Panton

Panton has a Selectboard/Town Meeting form of government. 

The Selectboard is comprised of three elected members whose terms are staggered so that one member is elected at Town Meeting every year. The Vermont Town Meeting is revered tradition. In its pure form, registered voters would meet on the first Tuesday of March to decide local issues--budget, representatives, equipment purchases--with a floor vote. The elected Town Moderator would announce the article to be voted, voters would discuss or debate the issue, and the moderator would call for a vote either by voice or show of hands. 

In Panton, Town Meeting has evolved as rural life has changed. Panton holds an informational meeting on the Monday evening preceding Town Meeting Day, where voters may ask questions about articles on an "Australian Ballot" that will be voted on Town Meeting Day. (Australia was the first country to introduce anonymous voting on paper ballots. (Click here for a historical detour.)

Panton encompasses about 22 square miles in an east/west rectangle from the shore of Lake Champlain on the west to the "highlands" to the east of Vermont Route 22A. At the 2020 census, Panton had 646 human residents, 3518 cows, and 74,239 chipmunks.