Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas’ statement on the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision disqualifying Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential primary ballot
by Secretary of State Sarah Copeland-Hanzas
As Vermont’s Secretary of State, I take nothing more seriously than my non-partisan role as Vermont’s Chief Elections Officer and overseeing free, fair, accessible, and transparent elections. Vermont’s 2024 elections will be held with integrity and in accordance with state and federal law; my commitment to this and to democracy is ironclad.
The Colorado case and similar state court cases pending throughout the country explore complex legal and constitutional questions and it appears that U.S. Supreme Court review is forthcoming. As the various legal proceedings unfold, it is important to make clear that the Vermont Secretary of State has no role in making a legal determination about Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on the primary ballot or to hold the office of President.
Our role, as directed by statute, is to place any person’s name on the Presidential Primary ballot if that person files the requisite number of signatures, consent form, and filing fee prior to the deadline on December 15, 2023. Any further questions regarding a specific candidate’s underlying qualifications for the office they are seeking are properly left to the courts to adjudicate.
Colorado state court rulings are not binding here in Vermont. Until a court with appropriate jurisdiction orders this office to remove a candidate from the primary ballot, my team will continue to prepare the March Presidential Primary ballots with all candidates who met the administrative requirements mentioned above.
My office is actively engaged in monitoring the various court cases and will continue to consult with our Attorney General, other secretaries of state, and legal experts in Vermont and nationally as the legal process unfolds.
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Categories: Elections, Press Release
The action of 4 Justices from the Colorado Supreme Court (57% of the court body) has all the marks of an unconstitutional decision. Not only does the 14th amendment clause 3 not mention the POTUS, but also declares Congress is to bring this forth in chambers, not the Supreme Court. However it appears also that 57% of the Colorado Supreme Court doesn’t understand the law they teach to first year law students, (innocent until proven guilty). Trump was never charged for insurrection. He certainly wasn’t convicted of insurrection, as you need to be charged first, then it goes to court. If you loose then you are convicted. None of those things took place, even if you could charge the President of violating the insurrection clause in the 14th amendment. The Colorado Supreme Court bypassed innocent until proven guilty, as the tactics they used is equal to third world countries with dictators. The Constitutional Republic of the USA doesn’t operate that way. They passed right through and let 4 people decide who people in Colorado can vote for, despite no valid conviction or accusation. THIS IS NOT DEMOCRACY !
This is a lie by the SOS. Here is the proof.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/not-just-colorado-here-are-16-other-states/
Vermont is ALSO trying to remove someone from the ballot with no legal basis for it. On the bandwagon with 16 other states. No crime was committed, no actual charges filed (especially here in VT) that resulted in a conviction.
I will also bring up because no one else has. What about double jeopardy?
Was Trump held for impeachment #2 based on the J6 garbage and was AQUITTED BY THE SENATE.
Do I remember the law wrong. I think not.
I ask again at what point do those that can do something other than lawfare to stop this. I am saddened by what others in the world think of this great nation all because of Satan running things and we did not (most of us) ask for any of this. Nor it seems are those that can, doing ANYTHING to stop this. It sucks being broken in these times.
Shannon: It’s a classic tyranny by the majority. While I am knowingly speculating in this regard, I believe that, in the mind’s eye of Vermont’s offending majority, it’s payback time for past indiscretions against them, real and imagined.
And while this specific dishonesty is obviously not unique in our history, as a member of a recently targeted cohort that has rarely experienced discrimination like this, I admit that I am ever more taken aback.
Even having watched my contemporaries, as I was growing up, treat others similarly, I’m inclined to point out that a wrongful action is not a morally appropriate way to correct or cancel a previous wrongful action, unless perhaps it is in the unavoidable case of immediate self-defense. Thus, without the rule of law, anarchy and chaos are inevitable.
In this regard, I’m again compelled to caution VDC readers to understand that ‘…when gazing long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
Conversely, however, I understand that when this tyranny shows its face on your front door, and threatens you, your family, and your property, … well, you get the idea.
The Gateway Pundit Article refers to lawsuits filed, not necessarily litigation pending. sarah copeland is pretending in her “bold” statement- she knows it matters not how many votes Trump gets in Vermont’s impotent primary, Trump will not prevail in Vermont in November. copeland’s predecessor and the legislature, in 2020 forever made the outcome of Vermont’s elections determined by whom controls the ballots. copeland’s rhetoric is just that- but you can bet that if presented the opportunity, she and the legislature would indeed drop Trump from any ballot- primary or general election.
Are ‘lawsuits filed’, not ‘litigations pending’?
A group of concerned citizens has completed ballot examinations in 4 VT towns and found everything in order. There may be mail-in ballots that were forged, but we have not succeeded in finding them. It is very popular among the right to say that the VT election was stolen. Now prove it, I’ll wait.
If I’m not mistaken, the town of Eden had a long standing record of voting for the winner of presidential elections, up until 2020. I bet they got it right in 2020 and their record still stands. Yet, we must go through this grinding pantomime to show the woefully ignorant how fraud and corruption is destroying our country and our lives – not only here, but across the globe.
A couple factoids came out this week:
1) “Former Attorney General Ed Meese has presented arguments to the Supreme Court that they should reject Special Counsel Jack Smith’s requests because he was unconstitutionally appointed in the first place. Meese, along with law professors Steven G. Calabresi and Gary S. Lawson, filed a friend-of-the-court brief Wednesday to present the case that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Smith — a private citizen — is in violation of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. “Not clothed in the authority of the federal government, Smith is a modern example of the naked emperor,” the brief states. “Improperly appointed, he has no more authority to represent the United States in this Court than Bryce Harper, Taylor Swift, or Jeff Bezos,” they argued.
2) “On December 20, 2017, by Executive Order 13818, the President declared a national emergency with respect to serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world and, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), took related steps to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. The prevalence and severity of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared on December 20, 2017, must continue in effect beyond December 20, 2023. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13818 with respect to serious human rights abuse and corruption.
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 18, 2023.
Please tell me why The Biden would continue extending an Executive Order issued by President Donald J. Trump? (insert here the sound of liberal heads exploding in 3,2,1…)
Merry Christmas everyone – nothing can stop what is coming…..God wins!
Mr. Price: Can you describe for us how town clerks verify the signatures on the mail-in ballot envelopes they receive?
Double jeopardy does not apply. That was a political not legal proceeding.
Thank you Mr. Price for pointing out the fact that there is no ID required or signature verification required to assure mail in ballots are being cast by eligible voters. So yes I hope you wait and wait, but by your response I will guess you already knew. The NYT wrote an interesting article years back about how unsecured mail in ballots are, and how easy it would be to cheat using them.
NOYB: I suspect we’ll not hear back from Mr. Price on the issue of the verified signatures in Vermont’s mail-in ballot process, because his false equivalence, that “It is very popular among the right to say that the VT election was stolen’, ignores that fact that he can’t prove the election wasn’t stolen either.
The ‘fact’ of the matter is that the election process is flawed. And unless people like Mr. Price agree with us that the process be corrected, we can only assume that the flaw is by design.
The rogue, installed political operatives turning the rule of law into a political weapon will have the rule of law come down upon their pointy evil heads. Declared and decreed! If 45 can be removed from a ballot with no convictions, just accusations, then The Biden must suffer the same fate. In fact, any political candidate can be accused and removed if they really want to play this game. Shall we play this game?
Sarah Copeland Hanzas, let’s talk about Vermont Representative Chris Bates, D-Bennington shall we? A convicted felon who fled to Vermont, elected to office while an arrest warrant from Illinois was not enforced due to Vermont not approving the extradition. No one was or is stopping Chris Bates, a convicted felon, from being in office or running for any office, State or local. The real criminals sit in elected seats and no one seems to care.
The good news is the more they ride 45 like a rented mule, his poll numbers go up and up! The People see right through the masks of the delusional freaks of misery trying to destroy us and our country. Keep it up despots. The day of reckoning is barrelling down on all of you like a freight train with no brakes.
Can someone explain to me why Vermont always appears on the Fox News map of states with pending cases against Trump appearing on the Primary Ballot??? If our prog-fascista Sec. of State didn’t intitiate a case has a private party? Out of the Loop here…
And may I remind you that the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint!
My buddies didn’t die face down in the muck…. Just gonna sit and enjoy my coffee ☕️.
I wrote the secretary Wednesday asking that biden/harris be excluded from the 2024 presidential ballot for violation of section 3 of the 14th Ammendment by providing aid and comfort to known enemies of the United States (which they have and are actually under current congressional investigation for) and got the same thoughtless response. I wonder if anyone actually still believes those that question election integrity, especially recent elections, in the United States are domestic terrorists? There’s definitely some domestic terrorism going on in the United States but it seems largely establishment government driven. I miss my Constitutional Republic.
Stunning and brave! I’m sure Phil Scott is drowning his sorrows in another fifth of Jack over this tonight.
I see treason unfolding right before our collective eyes, not from without, but from within…we are all watching like a hawk.
A line was crossed in Colorado, that turns my guts upside down, and inside out.
They best be careful, before they cross the line of no return, then there will be hell to pay, mark my words, and none of us wants to see that.
All sides must tread very carefully, is my take…very very carefully.
We all know the penalty for treason.
Just a bunch of b.s., Vermont has 2 electoral votes so we don’t matter that is the only reason she hasn’t tried it. Vermont is run and controlled by progressive we know bettors.
For what it is worth, kudos to the Vermont Secretary of State. I assume her entire statement was reproduced in this article. She had every opportunity to make some sort of partisan statement in support of the result reached by the Colorado Supreme Court in ruling Donald Trump ineligible to run for President. To her credit she did not take that opportunity. It is refreshing to see a state official in Vermont actually stay in their own lane and not take some cheap shot at President Trump.
I agree, Mr. Kelly. But given the evidence purporting that Vermont is one of the several other States where lawsuits have been filled challenging Trump’s right to ballot inclusion, are we to assume S.O.S. Hanzas has no knowledge nor involvement in them?
Consider this:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF VERMONT BURLINGTON DIVISION
JOHN ANTHONY CASTRO 12 Park Place, Mansfield, TX 76063
Plaintiff,
V.
SECRETARY OF STATE SARAH COPELAND-HANZAS
128 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05633
DONALD JOHN TRUMP
1100 S. Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480
Defendants.
VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF
E. DEMAND FOR RELIEF
16. Plaintiff John Anthony Castro asks this Court to issue an injunction preventing Defendant Secretary of State from accepting and/or processing Defendant Donald John Trump’s ballot access documentation, including, but not limited to, nominating papers and nominating petitions.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24004330-original_complaint_castro_vermont
Hopefully, Ms. Copeland-Hanzas will keep us appraised of this legal action and resist any last minute claim that the devil made her do it.
They just want to spark a Civil War to bring down the one nation standing in the way of Global government. Obvious.
PLEASE HOLD THE LINE with our U.S. CONSTITUTION or you will OWN NOTHING AND BE MISERABLE>
Maybe the Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas’, truly understands her role as ” SOS “, and has read the US Constitution and understands what was written, and how to interpret it……………….
I assume the progressive liberals are now pulling their hair out, as they would have assumed that left-leaning Vermont, and that includes its current Governor, would want to take the leading candidate in the GOP to be removed from the ballot
following the boondoggle decision in Colorado !!
Judicial prudence, something Colorado is missing, innocent until proven guilty, one
day this is going to bite them, now let’s check into Joseph Robinette Biden Jr and his
financial activities………… this should be fun.
I’ll make this simple. Trump’s presidency should be decided by the people, NOT the courts. He has been charged but not convicted. Besides, Chittenden County won’t let him win Vermont anyway.
He has not been charged with insurrection. He won’t be because he said “peacefully and patriotically”.
Question: what would prevent the citizens of Colorado to write in Trump’s name? Just asking…
The Colorado Supreme Court specified that a write in for Trump is equally disqualified.
Write ins are not the equivalent of name on a ballot. If they were, why would anyone’s name be listed on a ballot?
Now how about Joe Biden?……
Would it be possible to have a photo of Copeland-Hanzas that is more current. The photo used with this story has to be at least 15 years old. Please.