By Guy Page
As the 2025-2026 legislative session begins this week, the Vermont State Legislature is expected to take up the election challenge raised by Bennington-1 House candidate Bruce Busa, along with disenfranchised Pownal voters and the Boards of Civil Authority (BCA) in Readsboro and Stamford.
The challenge stems from voter checklist errors that resulted in Pownal residents receiving ballots for the wrong House district, an issue brought to light after the November 5 election, in which Democrat Jonathan Cooper unofficially defeated Republican Bruce Busa by 23 votes. Busa also came in a very close second in the 2022 race.
The Legislature’s website lists Cooper as the sitting legislator for Bennington 1, comprising the southern Bennington County towns of Woodford, Pownal, Stamford, Readsboro, and Searsburg. If either the Legislature or the voters choose Busa, the already enhanced Vermont Republican House caucus will gain another vote, bolstering Gov. Phil Scott’s ability to successfully veto Democratic bills.
Indeed, the initial General Election results and a subsequent recount both declared Cooper the winner of the Bennington-1 race. However, discrepancies uncovered after the election revealed that the voter checklist in Pownal had not been properly updated following the 2022 Act 89 reapportionment, causing 56 voters in the Bennington-1 district to receive Bennington-5 ballots and 14 voters in the Bennington-5 district to receive Bennington-1 ballots, Bennington County GOP Chair Joe Gervais said to VDC.
Gervais said a December 24, 2024, report from the Vermont Attorney General’s Office confirmed these findings and raised significant concerns. According to the report:
“It is the opinion of this Office that 56 voters registered in the Bennington-1 House District received the Bennington-5 House District ballot and were unable to properly cast a vote in the race for the Bennington-1 House District seat. The winner of the certified recount won by a margin of 23 votes, meaning the number of registered voters unable to vote in the Bennington-1 election (56) exceeds the margin of victory (23).”
The report was submitted to the Vermont House of Representatives for review under 17 V.S.A. § 2605(b)(1), empowering the Legislature to resolve election disputes. Historical precedent shows these processes can take weeks to conclude.
Bruce Busa, the Republican candidate in the Bennington-1 race, emphasized the importance of addressing the error: “The most reasonable solution is to allow the 56 affected voters the opportunity to cast their ballots in the proper Bennington-1 House race,” he said in a recent statement. The Vermont Secretary of State has recommended a re-election of the entire district.
Gervais echoed Busa’s sentiments:
“It’s deeply troubling that errors in the voter checklist disenfranchised dozens of voters in both the 2022 and 2024 elections following the Act 89 reapportionment. In both contests, candidate Busa lost by less than two dozen votes. I urge the Legislature to provide these voters with the chance to vote in the correct House district for the 2025-2026 term.”
The Legislature may choose to simply vote to resolve the election itself – in which case the Democrat majority might be expected to vote in favor of Cooper. Or, it could abstain for voting and instead recommend a revote – either of the 56 voters (as Busa recommends) or the entire district (as the Secretary of State recommended in November).
‘The Vermont Legislature’s decision on this matter will determine whether affected voters in Pownal will have an opportunity to properly cast their ballots for their district representative,” Gervais said.