Listen to him, not the media, Secretary of State Condos says
In his recent commentary, Secretary of State Jim Condos decried election disinformation’s potential to create distrust in our electoral process. Despite touting the “gold standard voter-marked paper ballot we use in Vermont,” Condos has done much to encourage such distrust in our electoral process while dismissing the importance of a free press in supporting free elections.
Vermont was one of only 10 states which decided to mail ballots to all addresses on file in 2020, according to the National Council of State Legislatures. Of the 10 states with mass mail balloting, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Utah have spent years fine-tuning the process. Vermont joined New Jersey, California, Montana and Nevada as the five states which attempted mass mail balloting for the first time.
But during the 2020 election, the four other first-time mailing states joined the five early-adopting states in requiring a signature on a ballot to be matched to a signature on file. These nine states also gave mail voters the chance to correct their ballot if they followed the balloting instructions incorrectly. Vermont stood alone among the 10 mass-mail balloting states in not using both the signature verification and correction safeguards.
Unlike the other 49 states which have at least a few safeguards to protect electoral integrity, Vermonters have no way of knowing how many votes were fraudulent in 2020 (and likely will be in 2022) and Condos doesn’t seem intent on finding out.
“Gold standard”? More like “wet paper ballot standard.” A standard inaugurated by bypassing the only Republican in statewide office.
While Condos’ cavalier attitude toward electoral integrity is disturbing, we should also be troubled by the insinuation that people should only look to government to find out if the government is telling the truth.
Condos insists that we “look only to primary, official sources for your information.” He continues, “The talking heads in our news feeds don’t count: It is on all of us to verify the information we hear before promoting it ourselves. If you’re skeptical, or have questions, reach out to those who have answers. You can call or email my office anytime, and we will gladly answer your questions.”
Condos seems to be suggesting that only government sources (especially his office) can be trusted to answer questions of electoral integrity, or questions regarding the ability of government officials carrying out the duties of their office. Ask the rules-maker if the rules are fair, in other words.
For many, the “talking heads in our news feeds” include such trusted local media sources as VT Digger, Seven Days, and Vermont Daily Chronicle.
Let us remember that VT Digger broke the story about former Governor Peter Shumlin and current Attorney General TJ Donovan’s involvement in the EB-5 scandal. These state actors worried about Vermont’s guilt for aiding and abetting Quiros in defrauding millions from dozens of investors. Aside from Governor Scott, Vermont’s political leaders are all from one party, just as they were at the time of the fraud. The state actors in the Democratic party had (and still have) every reason to protect each other from negative news stories that could deflate their party’s reputation.
Accordingly, once one political party begins to dominate a government for a prolonged period of time, that party’s wishes start to become synonymous with what a government represents, and truth takes a backseat to the wishes of party leaders. This is as true in deep blue Vermont as it is in deep red Ohio, where the House speaker was recently indicted in a $60 million bribery case.
Condos’ omission of Vermont’s press from his recommendations suggests a dangerous precedent for a free society: solely looking to government sources to verify truth claims.
Yes, the press can be prone to error just like politicians. But Vermont’s press currently resembles, far more than Vermont’s government, a competitive marketplace. Our media outlets vie with one another for the next big scoop. And while that approach may, on occasion, lead to journalists reporting before they have all the facts (so that the competition won’t break the story), the opposite error of the government withholding information until it can’t be ignored is the much greater threat to truth and liberty in Vermont.
We should expect Vermont, like all states with one-party dominance, to have a weaker, less competitive democracy in regards to governmental power distribution and in the range of ideas that are considered permissible in public discourse. This means that we Vermonters must rely more heavily on our media to tell us what’s really going on. Vermont’s media isn’t perfect, but it represents the path of least resistance for finding the truth.
The author is a policy associate for the Ethan Allen Institute.
Categories: Commentary
“Accordingly, once one political party begins to dominate a government for a prolonged period of time, that party’s wishes start to become synonymous with what a government represents, and truth takes a backseat to the wishes of party leaders. This is as true in deep blue Vermont as it is in deep red Ohio, where the House speaker was recently indicted in a $60 million bribery case.”
Too hip&cool for conservative values. Let’s Go, Brandon!
Thank you Vermont Chronicle for reporting on the issues all of us “commoners” need and have a right to know…appreciated more than I can say here…
Good work by Ethan Allen Institute
If we could only wake up the people who vote! It can’t be done as long as the Vermont media acts as the protection wing of the dem/prog party. Yes Vermont grave digger and Seven days occasionally forget to check with the party and break some nefarious government news but what about VPR, WCAX and others? If the voters are receiving censored news the public is dumbed down to the danger. But now, this year the democratic policies are going to hit everyone’s financial status very hard. Gasoline, heating oil, propane and food all rising taking more out of available funds. Maybe this is what we need to wake the Vermont voters, I hope. There are so many people here taking government handouts, it’s hard to imagine. If there is no change soon, I’m packing it in and getting to hell out of here while I can, like a lot of others. I can see NH from my house and the breeze is blowing in that direction. I’ll kiss my native state good bye for the freedom that awaits elsewhere.
Well fellow citizens it appears that Secretary of State Jim Condos has argued that this quest to have more folks voting will not be at the cost of undermined vote integrity…is that about it? You buying it?
Condos being of the party screeching “election integrity” and “protect voter integrity” at the top of their lungs with a complicit media pushing and protecting the scam and fraud. The sick, twisted games being played upon citizens is evil.
Condos needs to be voted out!! Our ballots did not get printed in VT and came from an out of state entity. Town clerks stated that there was voter fraud in the election and was told they were wrong. Ballots were sent to plenty of dead people. Our crappy drivers licenses are being printed in NJ. The lowest bidder, and it shows! License plates are hard to come by due to the aluminum shortage. Those that are being made, do not last. IF you think that I am going to listen to Condos and not the media, you are sadly mistaken. I do not trust our governor as far as I an throw him and the EB% scandal/fraud is now showing Shumlin and his cronies to be complicit. When will this be addressed? When Leahy dies and cannot be prosecuted tothe fullest extent of the law??
WAKE UP people!!!