Editing Essex, Vermont (section)

==History==
{| class="wikitable" align="right" style="margin-left: 8px; text-align:right"
|-
! colspan="3" | Town vote to merge !! colspan="2" | Revote
|-
! rowspan="2" | District
! colspan="2" | 2006-11-07
! colspan="2" | 2007-01-23
|-
! Yes !! No
! Yes !! No
|-
|align="left"| 6–1 (outside village)
| 1,283 || 2,319
| rowspan="2" | 690
| rowspan="2" | 2,528
|-
|align="left"| 6–3 (outside village)
| 365 || 822
|-
|align="left"| 6–2 (within village)
| 2,728 || 1,026
| 2,009 || 362
|-
| Townwide totals
| 4,376 || 4,167
| 2,699 || 2,890
|-
! colspan="3" | Village vote to accept
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" style="font-size: 80%; line-height: 100%;"| No revote <br>required, <br>result was <br>uncontested.
|-
| &nbsp;
| 2,922
| 1,085
|}
The town was incorporated on June 7, 1763,<ref name="Town of Essex Vermont"/> named after the [[Earl of Essex]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=277815|title= Profile for Essex, Vermont, VT|publisher= ePodunk|access-date= November 10, 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121104195839/http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=277815|archive-date= November 4, 2012|url-status= dead}}</ref>

The Village of [[Essex Junction, Vermont|Essex Junction]] was formed within the town of Essex on November 15, 1892. The village was formed to provide additional services (such as sidewalks, water, and sewers) to its residents. The rural areas of the town did not want the services or the needed taxes.

As the town outside the village developed, it gradually added its own similar services, and by 1958, merger proposals appeared via voter petition. Over the years, various votes (often contentious) regarding a merger occurred in the village and the town, but never passing in both communities. - a requirement by the state legislature for a merger.

On November 7, 2006, a merger passed in both the town (as a whole) and village. The town as a whole (including the village) voted once on the merger, while the village, separately, voted in a second ballot to accept the merger if it passed the townwide vote. Complicating the matter, the regional paper misreported the merger failed based solely on results outside the village.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welch |first=Victoria |date=November 8, 2006 |title=Essex Defeats Merger 2-1 |newspaper=Burlington Free Press}}</ref> The next day the correct results were reported in both the town's paper,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tyler |first=George |date=November 9, 2006 |title=Merger Wins: Confusion over vote count |newspaper=Essex Reporter}}</ref> and as a correction in the regional paper.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welch |first=Victoria |date=November 9, 2006 |title=Essex merger moves forward: An apology to our Essex readers |newspaper=Burlington Free Press}}</ref>

On December 6, 2006, a petition to reconsider the merger was submitted to the town. The petition contained signatures totaling more than 5 percent of registered voters, the threshold required for a re-vote.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welch |first=Victoria |title=New rift emerges in Essex merger |newspaper=Burlington Free Press |date=December 7, 2006 }}</ref> The re-vote was held on January 23, 2007. Those results overturned the merger by 191 votes, rejecting the current merger proposal.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welch |first=Victoria |title=This time, Essex rejects merger: Revote comes up 191 ballots short |date=January 24, 2007 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/203298301/?terms=This%20time%20essex%20rejects%20merger&match=1 |newspaper=The Burlington Free Press |volume=180 |issue=24 |page=1A |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

An approval result would have triggered a multi-year merger process creating a new "Town of Essex Junction" and replacing the current governments of the town of Essex and the village of Essex Junction.

On November 2, 2021, voters in the village of Essex Junction voted to separate from the town of Essex, citing an unfair tax burden. The vote was 3,070 to 411 in favor of separation.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cohen|first=Lana|date=November 2, 2021|title=Essex Junction residents vote to become an independent city|url=https://vtdigger.org/2021/11/02/essex-junction-residents-vote-to-become-an-independent-city/|access-date=January 21, 2022|website=VTDigger|language=en-US}}</ref> Essex Junction separated on July 1, 2022.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Benninghoff |first1=Grace |title=Essex Junction will officially become its own city on July 1 |url=https://www.vermontpublic.org/vpr-news/2022-04-22/essex-junction-will-officially-become-its-own-city-on-july-1 |website=Vermont Public |date=April 22, 2022 |access-date=July 6, 2022}}</ref>