by Joe Gervais
The Colorado Supreme Court recently ruled that President Trump cannot appear on the Colorado primary ballot because he “participated in an insurrection” and this makes him ineligible to serve as President according to their interpretation of Article 3 of the 14th Amendment. We can question all these assertions, and they will certainly be questioned in the US Supreme Court, but it raises the question: Are Vermont Republicans ready for a Presidential Caucus, in light of the Colorado GOP’s response to “withdraw from the Primary and convert to a pure caucus system if this is allowed to stand”?
Vermont operates under an open primary system, where voters are not registered for a party and can vote for any party in a primary. In general primaries, the voter receives all party ballots, completes one ballot, and discards the ballots for the other parties. In the presidential primary, the voter requests a ballot for a party, but this is not tied to party registration, allowing staunch Democrats to request Republican ballots and vote for the Democrat’s preferred Republican candidate perceived to be weaker than the Democrat candidate for the general election. It can also result in non-Republican candidates being elected on the Republican primary ticket, such as Liam Madden winning the nomination for the US House seat in the 2022 election.
A caucus system ensures that only party members vote in the caucus. Who are the party members? According to Vermont GOP party rules, these are the voting members of the town committee, the additional voting members of the county committee that are not town-committee voting representatives, and the additional state committee members that are not town or county committee members. State-wide, this is several hundred people representing all the Republicans of the state.
General Michael Flynn, Chairman of America’s Future frequently says, “Local Action has National Impact”, particularly in the context of getting involved as precinct committeemen and committeewomen and poll workers. Dan Schultz has been pushing a precinct strategy nationwide, encouraging individuals to engage with their local political party as a leader. Unlike other states, Vermont does not have precincts, but rather the local political unit is the town or city committee. In the recent reorganization, only 118 of Vermont’s municipalities organized (https://www.vtgop.org/reorg – click “CHECK STATUS of 2023 Caucus Results” link), less than half of Vermont’s towns and cities. This means that should a caucus be held, Republican voters in half the state would not have a voice. It also means that for next summer’s RNC Convention, those towns would not be participating in the State Presidential Nominating Convention for the election of delegates to the RNC Convention to nominate the Republican nominee for the 2024 election on November 5th.
Lack of a town committee has two other impacts on Republican voters in a town. This provides no voice or vote with the VT GOP, and also restricts the ability to ensure the Board of Civil Authority has party representation for the conduct of elections in the town. The Board of Civil Authority is comprised of the Town Clerk, the Board of Supervisors, and the Justices of Peace (JP). During bi-annual elections, the town elects the JPs. If there are not three Justices elected from each major party, the Town Chairman can nominate up to three individuals to fill the role of JP solely for the purposes of elections. These BCA members are responsible for maintaining voter rolls and for the conduct of elections.
Vermont Republicans are currently earning an F for our participation in government with over half the municipalities having no representation. It is not too late. Any three Republicans can come together today and organize your town. Fill out the Get Involved form at https://www.vtgop.org/get-involved and Paul Dame, current VT GOP chair, can help connect you with your county committee to help you organize your town, and take the next step to get proper representation on your town board of civil authority.
Joe Gervais is a former Army Officer with an eclectic career ranging from decades in Sales and Marketing in the tech industry to running a sawmill and serving the global church as a missionary.