So Much for Saving Democracy!
House Democrats poised to disenfranchise Bennington 1 voters?
On November 7, the voters of the Bennington 1 House district (Woodford, Searsburg, Readsboro, Stamford, and most of Pownal) appeared to have elected Democrat Jonathan Cooper over Republican Bruce Busa by a squeaker of twenty-five votes. A recount narrowed the margin to thirteen, all of Busa’s recount gains occurring in the town of Pownal. However, on November 8, Busa discovered that an error by election officials placed fifty-six Bennington 1 district voters in the Bennington 5 district and gave them the wrong ballots, as were fourteen voters in Bennington 5. That error could have thrown the election to Cooper.
The remedy seems clear: hold another election to ensure the district’s representation actually represents the will of the voters.
But Vermont law is strange in this area as the Constitution. Creating a foxes and hen houses situation, it leaves it to the House of Representatives to “judge the elections and qualifications” of their own members. They decide what happens next. And the House, at present, contains a majority of Democrats, who seem to be dragging their feet on deciding what to do in order to keep their guy in place. As the weeks of furrowing brows and rubbing of chins drag on, Cooper, potentially illegitimate, is now occupying the seat and voting on legislation. The longer the Democrats dither, they longer they keep that vote. So, dither they do.
Cooper’s lawyer, Sarah Buxton, testified before the Government Operations Committee on January 22 and made some of the most infuriating arguments on behalf of her client one could imagine. For starters, she blames the error misapplying the legal district lines not on the local election officials, not on the Secretary of State’s office that mailed out the ballots, but, hold onto your hats, THE VOTERS.
A, shall we say skeptical, Rep. Lisa Hango (R-Berkshire) summarized this argument for disenfranchising these voters, “Because I [a Bennington 1 voter] didn't take the time to check the checklist to make sure that I was in the right district? Right? So, it's putting the onus on the voter, him or herself. Right?”
Yup. According to Buxton/Cooper the voters should have pointed out to the election officials that they, the local clerks and JPs nor the Secretary of State who actually mails out the ballots (credit where due, Sec. of State Copeland-Hanzas (D-VT) immediately called for a district-wide revote), didn’t know where the district boundaries legally drawn approved by the legislature were. And because the voters didn’t point this out before the events that revealed the error (???), well, the election officials can’t be held responsible for the voters’ negligence. So, hard cheese.
And what is Buxton’s proposed remedy for this miscarriage of the democratic process? Let’s just pretend that the error that potentially resulted in sending the wrong person to Montpelier wasn’t an error. Let’s pretend that the incorrect district lines were correct and all the ballots were sent to the right places. In her words, “That election reflected what the district actually is retrospectively.” Presto! The election was totally legit! And for the future, the legislature – instead of calling for a revote – should officially redraw the district map to reflect the error. Jaw drop.
Again, Hango recaps for clarities sake, “And so we're gonna remedy [disenfranchising voters] by redrawing the lines so you [Bennington 1 voters] actually weren't disenfranchised?”
Buxton’s response: “Right…. “I would say [to those voters] what you believed to be true was true. [It wasn’t.] You trusted your election officials. [They screwed up.] Yes. I previously argued and still believe we all have an individual and collective responsibility to make sure that elections are administered and checklists are fair and accurate.” You, the voters, are the problem.
First, this is the most insultingly asinine thing I’ve ever heard. Second, it’s not just the seventy people who were sent the wrong ballots who were disenfranchised, the entire population of Bennington 1 are potentially being disenfranchised if the person who is currently representing their interests in the legislature is not actually who they collectively wanted to be there.
The big question now is if the party that spent the last two years clutching their pearls and warning us all that we had to elect them to save democracy will buy into this manurefest, disenfranchise voters, and kick them with the blame into the bargain. Or will the foxes actually do right by the hens in the henhouse and call for a revote. Either way, it looks like it will be a while until we find out, as the Government Operations Committee chair, Matt Birong (D-Vergennes) told his caucus it would take until sometime in February before his committee had a recommendation to send to the full house, where the brow furrowing and chin rubbing will begin again.
And P.S. to the voters in Bennington 1. Do you really want someone representing you who would send his attorney into the State House to make this insulting and unjust argument on his behalf?
Rob Roper is a freelance writer with 20 years of experience in Vermont politics including three years service as chair of the Vermont Republican Party and nine years as President of the Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont’s free market think tank.
Thanks to goldendomevt.com for its transcript service, which contributed to this story.