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.”