S15, universal mailed ballots, passed the Vermont House 119-30 Tuesday, the Ethan Allen Institute reports.
Purpose: S.15 contains many corrections and additions to Vermont elections law from how a candidate’s nickname can be used on a ballot to new procedures by which election officials can notify a voter that his/her absentee ballot is defective and provide an opportunity to “cure” the ballot. However, the overriding purpose of this bill is to make permanent the Covid-19 emergency measure of mailing “live” ballots to all active voters on the statewide checklist regardless of request.
Analysis: S.15 would turn Vermont into one of six states that relies primarily on vote-by-mail as a system for running elections. The major difference is that those other states all employ some type of voter ID for absentee ballots such as signature verification, a driver’s license number, last for digits of a Social Security number, etc. Vermont would have no such security measures, meaning that election officials will have no way to independently verify if a mailed out ballot was actually filled out and returned by the voter to whom the vote is being attributed. Additionally, in the event a ballot is cast fraudulently by mail and the legitimate voter shows up at the polls to vote, given thirty days of early processing of absentee ballots, there is no way to remove the fraudulent vote from the final count. This is a system ripe for large and small-scale voter fraud.
Although S.15 contains a provision calling for the Secretary of State’s Office to do a study into how and at what cost security measures might be added to the system, the study is not due until 2023, whereas an election would take place in 2022 with no security in place. This is putting the cart before the horse.
Those voting YES believe the potential benefits of an all-mail voting system such as increased voter turnout, fewer barriers for minority voters, and convenience are worth the potential risk of fraud, which they believe does not exist in significant amounts.
Those voting NO believe it is irresponsible to have a voting system in which the overwhelming number of ballots counted (76% in 2020) cannot be independently verified by election officials as valid or fraudulent. Moreover, the supposed benefits of increased turn-out and greater minority participation are not born out by statistical fact. States that have moved to all-mail voting saw flat or declined overall participation in the election following the change, and the two primary examples of vote-by-mail states are in the top five worst for racial disparities in voting according to the 2020 census: Oregon (#2) and Colorado (#5),
How They Voted
(Click on your Rep’s name to send an email)
| Sally Achey (R – Middletown Springs) – NO Janet Ancel (D – Calais) – YES Peter Anthony (D – Barre) – YES Norman Arrison (D – Weathersfield) – YES Sarita Austin (D – Colchester) – YES John Bartholomew (D – Hartland) – YES Lynn Batchelor (R – Derby) – NO Scott Beck (R – St. Johnsbury) – YES Matthew Birong (D – Vergennes) – YES Alyssa Black (D – Essex) – YES Tiffany Bluemle (D – Burlington) – YES Thomas Bock (D – Chester) – YES Seth Bongartz (D – Manchester) – YES Michelle Bos-Lun (D – Westminster) – YES Erin Brady (D – Williston) – YES Patrick Brennan (R – Colchester) – NO Timothy Briglin (D – Thetford) – YES Jana Brown (D – Richmond) – YES Nelson Brownell (D – Pownal) – YES Jessica Brumsted (D – Shelburne) – YES Thomas Burditt (R – West Rutland) – NO Mollie Burke (P/D – Brattleboro) – YES Elizabeth Burrows (P/D – West Windsor) – YES Scott Campbell (D – St. Johnsbury) – YES Bill Canfield (R – Fair Haven) – NO Seth Chase (D – Colchester) – YES Kevin “Coach” Christie (D – Hartford) – YES Brian Cina (P/D – Burlington) – YES Sara Coffey (D – Guilford) – YES Selene Colburn (P/D – Burlington) – YES Hal Colston (D – Winooski) – YES Peter Conlon (D – Cornwall) – YES Sarah Copeland-Hanzas (D – Bradford) – YES Timothy Corcoran (D – Bennington) – YES Mari Cordes (D/P – Lincoln) – YES Lawrence Cupoli (R – Rutland) – NO Lynn Dickinson (R – St. Albans) – YES Karen Dolan (D – Essex) – YES Kari Dolan (D – Waitsfield) – YES Kate Donnally (D – Hyde Park) – YES Anne Donahue (R – Northfield) – YES David Durfee (D – Shaftsbury) – YES Caleb Elder (D – Starksboro) – YES Alice Emmons (D – Springfield) – YES Peter Fagan (R – Rutland) – NO Martha Feltus (R – Lyndon) – NO John Gannon (D – Wilmington) – YES Leslie Goldman (D – Bellows Falls) – YES Kenneth Goslant (R – Northfield) – NO Maxine Grad (D – Moretown) – YES Rodney Graham (R – Williamstown) – NO James Gregoire (R – Fairfield) – YES Lisa Hango (R – Birkshire) – NO James Harrison (R – Chittenden) – YES Robert Helm (R – Fair Haven) – NO Mark Higley (R – Lowell) – YES Robert Hooper (D – Burlington) – YES Mary Hooper (D – Montpelier) – YES Philip Hooper (D – Randolph) – YES Lori Houghton (D – Essex) – YES Mary Howard (D – Rutland) – YES Kathleen James (D – Manchester) – YES Stephanie Jerome (D – Brandon) – YES Kimberly Jessup (D – Middlesex) – YES John Killacky (D – S. Burlington) – YES Charles Kimbell (D – Woodstock) – YES Warren Kitzmiller (D – Montpelier) – YES Emilie Kornheiser (D – Brattleboro) – YES Jill Krowinski (D – Burlington) – PRESIDING Robert LaClair (R – Barre) – YES Martin LaLonde (D – S. Burlington) – YES Diane Lanpher (D – Vergennes) – YES Paul Lefebvre (R – Newark) – YES Samantha Lefebvre (R – Orange) – YES Felisha Leffler (R – Enosburgh) – YES | William Lippert (D – Hinesburg) – YES Emily Long (D – Newfane) – YES Michael Marcotte (R – Coventry) – YES Marcia Martel (R – Waterford) – NO Paul Martin (R – Franklin) – NO James Masland (D – Thetford) – YES Christopher Mattos (R – Milton) – YES Michael McCarthy (D – St. Albans) – YESCurtis McCormack (D – Burlington) – YES Patricia McCoy (R – Poultney) – NO James McCullough (D – Williston) – YES Francis McFaun (R – Barre) – YES Leland Morgan (R – Milton) – NO Michael Morgan (R – Milton) – NO Kristi Morris (D – Springfield) – YES Mary Morrissey (R – Bennington) – NO Michael Mrowicki (D – Putney) – YES Emma Mulvaney-Stanak (D – Burlington) – YES Barbara Murphy (I – Fairfax) – YES Logan Nicoll (D – Ludlow) – YES Michael Nigro (D – Bennington) –YES Robert Norris (R – Sheldon) — NO Terry Norris (I – Shoreham) – NO William Notte (D – Rutland) – YES Daniel Noyes (D – Wolcott) – YES John O’Brien (D – Tunbridge) – YES Carol Ode (D – Burlington) – YES “Woody” Page (R – Newport) – NO Kelly Pajala (I – Londonderry) – YES John Palasik (R – Milton) – YES Joseph Parsons (R – Newbury) – NO Carolyn Partridge (D – Windham) – YES Avram Patt (D – Worcester) – YES Henry Pearl (D – Danville) –YES Arthur Peterson (R – Clarendon) – NO Ann Pugh (D – S. Burlington) – YES Barbara Rachelson (D/P – Burlington) – YES Marybeth Redmond (D – Essex) – YES Lucy Rogers (D – Waterville) – YES Carl Rosenquist (R – Georgia) – NO Larry Satcowitz (D – Randolph) – YES Brian Savage (R – Swanton) – YES Robin Scheu (D – Middlebury) – YES Heidi Scheuermann (R – Stowe) – YES Patrick Seymour (R – Sutton) – NO Charles “Butch” Shaw (R – Pittsford) – YES Amy Sheldon (D – Middlebury) – YES Laura Sibilia (I – Dover) – YES Katherine Sims (D – Craftsbury) – YES Taylor Small (P/D – Winooski) – YES Brian Smith (R – Derby) – NO Harvey Smith (R – New Haven) – NO Trevor Squirrell (D – Underhill) – YES Gabrielle Stebbins (D – Burlington) – YES Thomas Stevens (D – Waterbury) – YES Vicki Strong (R – Albany) – NO Linda Joy Sullivan (D – Dorset) – YES Heather Suprenant (D – Barnard) – YES Curt Taylor (D – Colchester) – YES Thomas Terenzini (R – Rutland) – NO George Till (D – Jericho) – YES Tristan Toleno (D – Brattleboro) – YES Casey Toof (R – St. Albans) – YES Maida Townsend (D – South) – YES Joseph “Chip” Troiano (D – Stannard) – YES Tanya Vyhovsky (P/D – Essex) – YES Tommy Walz (D – Barre) – YESKathryn Webb (D – Shelburne) – YES Kirk White (P/D – Bethel) – YES Rebecca White (D – Hartford) – YES Dane Whitman (D – Bennington) – YES Terri Lynn Williams (R – Granby) – NO Theresa Wood (D – Waterbury) – YES David Yacovone (D – Morristown) – YES Michael Yantachka (D – Charlotte) – YES |