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Statement follows re-election bid announcement
By Guy Page
Vermont statewide election officials will not, if asked, turn over the state’s voter checklist to the Department of Justice, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland-Hanzas said today.
The U.S. Department of Justice has asked at least 12 states – including neighbors New Hampshire and New York – to provide statewide voter registration rolls to ensure compliance with the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA), sponsored by a Senate Democrat and approved by a wide bi-partisan vote in the wake of the ‘hanging chad’ presidential election of 2000.
Those other states include Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
And it’s just a matter of time before the feds get around to asking Vermont and every other state, too, according to a report citing the DOJ.
A June 25 DOJ letter to New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan asks, “please send us New Hampshire’s current voter registration list. Please include active and inactive voters.” Scanlan reportedly has denied the request.
Copeland-Hanzas said “our office has no plans to share Vermont voter data with the federal government,” she said in a press release sent this morning.
The Secretary of State notes that U.S. Constitution Article 1, Section 4 “gives states the authority to conduct elections, not federal agencies.”
She also cites a 2003 state law amended five times during the first Trump administration that explicitly protects voters’ private information from the federal government or any foreign entity. Vermont law 17 V.S.A. § 2154(b)(2) states:
“A public agency…and any officer, employee, agent, or independent contractor of a public agency shall not knowingly disclose a copy of all of the statewide voter checklist, a municipality’s portion of the statewide voter checklist, or any other municipal voter checklist to any foreign government or to a federal agency or commission or to a person acting on behalf of a foreign government or of such a federal entity for the purpose of:
(A) registration of a voter based on his or her information maintained in the checklist;
(B) publicly disclosing a voter’s information maintained in the checklist; or
(C) comparing a voter’s information maintained in the checklist to personally identifying information contained in other federal or state databases.”
According to Wikipedia, the Help America Vote Act of 2002, or HAVA, is a United States federal law, which was authored by Sen. Christopher Dodd (Democrat – CT), and passed in the House 357-48 and 92–2 in the Senate and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 29, 2002.
The bill was drafted in reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 U.S. presidential election, when the Supreme Court narrowly ruled that Bush had won the election. The impetus for the Supreme Court case stemmed from controversies surrounding the administration of the election in Florida and whether votes were cast and counted in a fair and equitable manner.
The law was enacted to establish a program to provide funds to States to replace punch card voting systems, to establish the Election Assistance Commission to assist in the administration of federal elections and to otherwise provide assistance with the administration of certain federal election laws and programs, to establish minimum election administration standards for States and units of local government with responsibility for the administration of federal elections, and for other purposes.
“To the extent that the federal government seeks to overstep its authority, I will continue to work with Attorney General Clark to protect Vermonters’ data in court,” Copeland-Hanzas said. “The Attorney General and I will also continue to coordinate with other states that are committed to protecting citizens’ private data and preserving the constitutional balance of power.”
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Categories: Elections
No surprise Vermont far left officials will not comply with Federal Law, they haven’t, so why start now. Possibly problem is it was passed as a bipartisan law, seemingly they only want to follow Democrat enacted laws. Time for change
Oh it is so far past “time for a change”, It makes me wonder if “Vermonters” or what passes for a Vermonter these days, like the present day excuse for, excuse me, definition of “representative government” which is no more than “yes Sir, thank you Sir, may I please have another Sir ? So many “Vermonters” have boarded the Socialist train to failure that it has become acceptable to cede authority to those that claim to know more than their constituents, and therefore exercise the power that these carpetbaggin’ christians have been entrusted with. Vote them out !
Oops ! Charletons, not Christians ! I need to learn uow to use spell check !
It is interesting that our Vermont Secretary of State is more than cooperative with having our Vermont Statewide Voter Checklist accessed by a private, non-governmental organization named ERIC, (The Electronic Registration Information Center), but NOT by our own Federal Government. Why?
Our Federal Government has to trust the legitimacy and accuracy of each state voter checklist in their authority over the U.S. Elections of Presidents, U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators. Isn’t it reasonable to want them verified?
I think we ALL know the main issue at hand here. Illegal Aliens have been allowed to register to vote in many states and especially in Vermont as it is an open and illegal “Sanctuary State.”
Many of our Vermont Elected Officials call out President Trump saying he is acting as a “King, who is Above the Law.” ALL while they are projecting and denying their own Lawless Behaviors.
Let’s not forget that Vermont Voter Checklists are open Records. Anyone can request a copy of a town’s voter checklist. The lists don’t have personal information such as phone numbers or social security numbers. Many people obtain copies to use for elections and campaigning, so what is the problem?
I’m guessing the U.S. Government’s DOGE CREW will find many purge-able persons for varied reasons once they obtain a copy of Vermont’s Statewide Voter Checklist that is “Kept and maintained by the State.”
Do you remember when each Vermont Town used to be responsible for the keeping and maintaining of its own Town Voter Checklist? The State of Vermont took away that control about eight years ago when they also brought in “vote counting machines” saying the use of them would not be mandatory. But they lied, because they were made mandatory.
Do you remember when there was a strict “Ballot Chain of Custody” for ALL Elections including, Local, State, and Federal Elections? We knew then with certainty who had voted on each Ballot. Election Ballots were hand-counted and Elections were auditable and trustworthy. NOT ANY MORE !!
What is it about open, free, and fair elections that scares the crap out of lefties ? (rhetorical)
Patrick, you need to remember, it is only ‘Democracy’ when Democrat/Socialist are guaranteed to win
I think the fact ,that we do NOT have open,free,and fair elections is what scares us lefties.
Of course, there is nothing to see here, nothing to see, just like EB-5, nothing to see, move along.
I can’t wait to read how VTDigger and VT Public are going to spin this one!
Neil- Remember one of the EB-5 principals who encouraged foreign inverters to get their green cards has an VT airport (Burlington) named after him-Leaky Leahy. He committed fraud. Where’s LL living now, in the DC area and not VT where retired politicians stay.
Tom – There’s a pit still in Newport, VT and I am ready to call it the Patrick Leahy Memorial Hole. Give it a plaque and everything! Put it on maps….
🙄🙄🙄🤪🤪🤪I know, right! That should really be interesting 🤡🤡🤡
Apparently Vermont Marxist are history deficient. We need to go forward and return to the 1970’s
In my younger days there was a street term that defined what a person was (mainly female), others may remember it. This person State Sarah Copeland-Hanzas may be holding office from jail. That term was “Jail Bait”, she’ll redefine the term.
Watch what happens now…where is the transparency? What is the SOS hiding? Can it be how the SOS office forced Dominium Voting Machines on every town in Vermont, with many town clerks saying they didn’t need it, then after this was done ,the SOS announced they wouldn’t stand for another term and retired? Reminds me of the Tri-State Lottery vendor chosen, who had ties to organized crime, and right after the lottery commissioner retired to….get this…it was either to Bermuda or the Bahamas, forget which, but I will say this…it’s going to get interesting.
What does the SOS have to hide if she is unwilling to share public data…stay tuned.
Very Suspicious! And when are they going to stop mailing out Ballots! COVID has been over a long time now. Time to go back to in person and add Voter ID!
To me it doesn’t matter where I leave my comment. If you want a better Vermont, vote Republican.
Just received today fro Patriot Post (great web site), message from a Founder:
“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” James Madison 1788
Dumb A, good way to loose our federal funding. Not that he gives a crap. Time for voters in Vt to stand up to these worthless people
We all need to get connected and get some things set in motion together!
Justices of the Peace review the voter checklists in every town, and people running for district and county office can ask town clerks in their districts for all the checklists, state candidates, as well. This information is public, available through many data collection agencies who sell their lists to candidates. It appears Hanzas is trying to hide something.
The reason the “quote” supposed elected SOS will not comply…That office does NOT CHECK VOTER ID lists only takes the info from the Town Clerks…….Why has your town perhaps not done a review of the list?? It is by VT statute for the BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY to verify & update folks who moved, deceased, married, etc…MOST of our towns DO NOT update this list. Wonder why the illegal voters have so much say?? The push to have Motor Vehicle Dept sign up or have whoever sign up on line?? The ones running the show are afraid you might find out the truth…. just like DOGE uncovering all those goody monies being given, regardless of how much or who asks for taxpayer money…. Time to wake up the sleepers.
In 2022, not a SINGLE non-democrat was (s)elected to the dozen Justice of the Peace positions in our town, effectively blocking access to the voter roles. Got to hand it to them- they’re thorough and they know how to hide the place the proverbial bodies are buried.
When did college students become eligible to vote in Vermont or other states? It also marked the demise of local representatives democracy in Vermont. What’s the time frame a college student voter is allowed to maintain a voter status before they are removed from the voter roles upon graduation? How verified is a college student cross referenced between their college state voter status and their home town residence voter status ? Who controls this information and cross references this data between students housed state and home town state during the years in college and away from home town? How long does a visiting student stay on the voter roles upon graduation, and how long once graduated from college is their name deleted from the voter roles? As I recall, the volume of mailing ballots increased exponentially to absentee ballots requested.
Typical Democrat functionary. She’ll anything she can to hide Democrat (aka Communist) Party crooked election practices.
What certain States are afraid of is the digitized voter records and election data, outsourced to third-party software companies, is compromised. Chances are the Feds know it because they got insider technocrats, their own digital surveilence of third parties, as well as military surveilance (aka national security) They know where, who, when, and how the data is corrupted (i.e. hacked by open source codes.) If a foreign friend or foe wanted to score some funding, weapons or favors, they would simply tattle on the States or parties in question because they have their own digital surveilence. No bitwashing or digital footprints can delete data once it hits the web or the cloud storage.
Oh what entangled webs they weaved, practicing to deceive. No matter the grandstanding or deflecting, they can’t deny the data sets that are likely in the hands of those who can make their careers and side hustles evaperate “quickly.” A number of “voter harvesting” indictments being handed down….birds are going to sing to avoid lengthy prison sentences, immunity or for the right price. No honor among thieves.
So Vermont has a law that they can’t share voter information, but the federal government allegedly knows who people are anyway thanks to the IRS and whatever other federal agencies CITIZENS are entangled with. I’m watching the clock to see how long it will take for this AG to start squealing when the federal funds are withheld. Note I said citizens. I’ll bet the voter rolls are loaded with illegal aliens that they don’t want the feds to know about. Oh how I love this president for draining the swamp.
sorry, I meant SOS not AG.
I think in this situation I have to agree with the Secretary od State and do not approve of the Voter checklist being sent to the Federal Government. I lived in a small Town and was involved in local government at one time. I had confidence in our voting process even though I was not always happy with the results. I would not want to see Federal Government with this list. We don’t know where it will go in the future! If any of you have made donations to charitable or political organizations you will become a target for more donations with repeated requests for donations. There has been no reason given for asking for this list! The integrity of the vote has to lay at the local levels. My age (80) and circumstance, prevent me from being involved but I hope someone can encourage young Republicans to get involved, even just to be a ballot watcher. To insure integrity of elections we need Voter Identification cards for both State and Federal elections and State voting should be Citizen (legal) residents only. Students and illegal USA border jumpers should have no business voting here.
Surely the elections rolls are even more polluted. President Trump in a ceremony today marking the 90th anniversary of Social Security commented that already they have ‘kicked off’, removed, 270,000 illegal aliens receiving checks from Social Security rolls and working on verifying 12.5 million people over 120 years of age collecting benefits. No wonder Democrats were screaming so loudly and using courts to block the information.