Instant Runoff Voting, School Budgets Top Town-Meeting Agendas

It's Town Meeting Day in Vermont, the state's annual exercise in direct democracy, and there's plenty to vote on this year.

In Burlington, the big issue is instant runoff voting. Five years after the city enacted a system that lets voters rank-order their choices for mayor, a group seeking to repeal the system got enough signatures to force a Town Meeting vote that puts the question to residents.

In Montpelier, residents are voting on a measure that would urge the state Legislature to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making it punishable by a fine.

In 16 cities and towns, they'll be voting today on whether the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant should close as scheduled in 2012.