Secretary of State’s Office: “This audit, like those before it, shows clearly that there is no underlying manipulation of the programming or systemic inaccuracy in the tabulators. They were, again, shown to be extremely accurate when the ballot is properly marked by the voters.”
The Vermont House of Representatives Thursday voted 102-42 along party lines to give initial approval to amending the Brattleboro Town Charter to allow youth voters ages 16-18 to vote in local town elections.
Yesterday Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos announced the completion of the 2020 Vermont General Election Audit, which was conducted on April 28 at the Pavilion Auditorium located in Montpelier. No significant abnormalities or discrepancies were found between the audit results and the Official Returns of Vote.
Proponents argue that they are trying to “create a balance” between making it easy to vote and maintaining ballot security. That’s the rhetoric, but the truth is that should S.15 become law Vermont would have no effective security mechanisms to verify the validity of an absentee ballot, and the objective is to have everyone vote absentee (though that is not required). There is no balance, nor any attempt to create any.
The Oregon Secretary of State wants to tell Vermont legislators her state’s hard-won knowledge about vote integrity challenges in a universal vote-by-mail system. But that exchange of information won’t happen if Rep. Sarah Copeland-Hanzas, Chair of the House Government Operations Committee, holds a vote this afternoon on S15, Vermont’s universal, vote-by-mail bill.
The Vermont House of Representatives today is scheduled to consider H361, amending the Brattleboro Town Charter to allow youth voters ages 16-18 to vote in local town elections.
The post-election audit of 2020 Vermont General Election results will occur Wednesday, April 28 at the Pavilion Auditorium in Montpelier, starting at 9am.
Vermont is not one of the 34 states that require some form of identification to vote. Vermont does not have voter signature verification. While officials boast no fraud has been proven, this fact is just as likely to be the result of a near total inability to detect fraud as the absence of it. S.15 would put Vermont in the unenviable position of having the least secure election process in the country.
Joining with 49 other current and former state-level officials across the country, Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos and Lt. Gov. Molly Gray publicly asked corporate leaders to oppose electoral integrity laws “sweeping the country.”
Eric Covey, spokesperson for the office, has been adamant that there is no voter fraud in Vermont, but evasive regarding specific questions about specific vulnerabilities in the system.
