By Guy Page
A redistricting error will likely lead to a revote in Vermont’s southwestern-most House district and, possibly, the addition of the Bennington-1 House seat to the resurgent Republican caucus.
Second-place finisher (by 25 votes) Republican Bruce Busa has filed the paperwork for a revote in the Bennington County Court, he told VDC today.
Busa hopes the court rules that only the affected voters – somewhere between 40 and 75 – will be asked to cast ballots. But the Vermont Secretary of State wants the entire district to revote.
Busa fears that a special election turnout will be underwhelming and underrepresentative. No presidential election, no statewide election to draw voters. And then there’s deer season.
“What’s going on right now? It’s deer season. People are at camp. It’s hunting season, not election season,” Busa said in a late morning phone interview.
“I don’t think that’s a fair remedy to the problem,” Busa said. “Let the people who were affected receive the ballot, let them investigate the candidates….they’ll be known as the Pownal 75.”
What happened?
By midnight Tuesday, it looked like Democrat Jonathan Cooper had kept incumbent Nelson Brownell’s House seat blue despite a spirited challenge by Republican Bruce Busa, who narrowly lost a 2022 race, requiring a recount, for the same seat. It looked like Busa – close but no cigar – would again just miss joining the 20-odd new Republicans when the 2025 Legislature convenes.
Early totals showed that Cooper received 1,265 votes (48.3%) while Busa received 1,240 votes (47.35%).
Problem discovered
Then a Barber Pond Road resident told Busa he was given a ballot for Bennington-5, a purple two-seater comprised of Bennington and a chunk of Pownal, won by Republican Mary Morrissey and Democrat Michael Nigro.
Busa had campaigned hard on both sides of the road. He knew Barber Pond Road, both sides, was in his district. He says the Town Clerk was horrified to discover that the local officials and the State had instead sent Bennington-5 ballots to the north side of the road.
As a result, on Saturday, November 9, the Vermont Secretary of State office dropped the following bombshell:
“The Vermont Secretary of State supports a district-wide revote to assure that every voter in the Bennington-1 House District has a chance to vote. The district-wide revote should occur because of an error in Pownal’s checklist, which placed about 40 voters in the wrong legislative district. The outcome of the Bennington-1 House race could have been impacted by this error because Jonathan Cooper’s margin of victory was only 25 votes.”
Who wins a revote?
Pownal went 51-46% for Donald Trump, making it one of the reddest towns in Vermont – an encouraging sign for Busa backers.
However, Cooper supporters may be rightly buoyed by his strong victory in Pownal, 745-525. Busa, Readsboro, won the four smaller towns decisively. But Pownal, the ‘big town’ in the district, and the one closest to Bennington (and its college) chose Cooper.
How did the error happen?
Every ten years the Vermont House of Representatives and the Vermont State Senate are reapportioned to reflect Vermont’s changing population patterns. After the 2020 Census, Act 89 (2022) designated new boundaries for legislative districts.
In advance of the 2022 election cycle, the Vermont Secretary of State’s Elections Division worked with town clerks, E-911 staff, and others to update district boundaries.
“However, in that process, an error was made,” the Secretary of State’s Saturday press release said.
In Pownal, the centerline of Barber Pond Road was specified as part of the boundary between two legislative districts, SOS said. The north side of the road is part of the Bennington-5 House District, while the south side of the road is in the Bennington-1 House District. Residents living on the south side of Barber Pond Road were mistakenly assigned to the Bennington-5 House District. As a result, approximately 40 voters received a ballot with the incorrect house district. This error was not discovered during the 2022 election or in the lead-up to the 2024 General Election.
What happens next?
Per Vermont law, the first step in the remediation process is for the losing candidate to file a recount petition in Bennington Superior Court (17 V.S.A. §§ 2601 and 2602). This request must be filed in court within 7 calendar days from the election. Once before the court, the court has a range of remedies at its discretion, including a recount, a town-wide revote, or a district-wide revote.
“In light of the circumstances, the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office supports a district-wide revote for the Bennington-1 House District to assure that every voter in the district has a chance to have their vote counted,” SOS said. “The Bennington-5 House race was not close. Because the error could not have impacted the result, the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office doesn’t see a necessity to hold a district-wide revote in the Bennington-5 House District.”
Busa said it makes no sense to ask voters who have already voted to vote again. Just identify those who didn’t due to the snafu, he advised.
The date of the court ruling, and a subsequent revote, is uncertain.
Some content from the SOS press release was incorporated into this news story.
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