by Election Integrity Network-Vermont
This past fall, the Vermont chapter of the Election Integrity Network began making the case for why Vermont needs a Voter ID law ASAP. Our social media campaign cited testimony from top Vermont election officials and Town and City Clerks that in Vermont:
- Stolen and fraudulently submitted absentee ballots “will likely be processed” and the victimized citizens will be “checked off the [voter] checklist as having voted.” (See Video)
- Large- and small-scale absentee ballot fraud “is an opportunity that’s out there” given Vermont’s all-mail ballot system and lack of ballot integrity/security measures. (See Video)
- And, “We can’t necessarily stop…” anyone from committing absentee ballot fraud. (See Video)
Vermont now mails over half a million absentee ballots to every person on the voter checklist (unless formally challenged) for general elections without request, creating a large pool of unclaimed, unwanted, and misdirected “live” absentee ballots that can be abused to impact the outcome of local elections.
Without safeguards – and currently Vermont has virtually none – these ballots can be stolen, collected, or purchased, filled out by one person willing to sign the names on the envelopes to whom the ballot was addressed, then submitted by USPS or at an unsupervised drop box, all with no oversight by election officials, no means of verifying the validity of the votes, and with virtually zero chance of detection, capture, or prosecution.
Given that this is how roughly two thirds of voting now takes place in Vermont, we find this lack of ballot security unacceptable.
Requiring some form of Voter ID when casting a ballot either in person or by mail that election officials can use to verify that the person to whom a ballot is being attributed is, in fact, the voter casting the ballot is critical for ensuring the accuracy of elections and safeguarding the bedrock principle of one person/one vote.
Such ID can include a drivers’ license or state-issued ID (provided for free for those who can’t afford), the last four digits of one’s Social Security number, passport, and/or other potential options.
Our goal is to make it easy to vote, impossible to cheat. Every eligible voter has the right to vote – once. Nobody has the right to vote multiple times by stealing the identities and the ballots of other citizens on the voter checklist. Every time this happens, a legitimate voter is disenfranchised by having their vote canceled out by an illegitimate vote – no less so for not knowing that the disenfranchisement occurred.
Vermonters deserve an election system we can be confident is accurate and reflects one person/one vote. That doesn’t exist without giving election officials a common sense means of verifying the identity and properly counting each person casting a ballot.
If you agree that the Vermont legislature needs to pass a common sense voter ID law when they return to the State House in January 2026, please help us to achieve that goal by signing the petition HERE.