Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee

The House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs considers matters relating to the structure, organization, and oversight of State, local, county, and regional government, and municipal corporations; the administration of public safety; compensation and retirement benefits for public officials and employees; elections and reapportionment; liquor and lottery; military affairs; public records and open meetings; and other similar policies.

Bennington Election Results Affirmed

In the 2024 election, an error in the checklists in two adjacent districts in Bennington led to about 50 voters receiving ballots listing the candidates for State Representative incorrectly. This error was brought forward after the election and the losing candidate petitioned the state to request a new election. The Vermont Constitution and legal precedent dictates that the courts do not have the authority to decide what to do in the case of a contested election of a member of the House. That authority is with the House itself. 

After examining the evidence and taking testimony from a broad range of witnesses, including town clerks, the candidates themselves, and the Secretary of State’s office, the Government Operations and Military Affairs committee, on a bipartisan vote of 10-1, moved to recommend to the full House that it affirm the certified election winner and then work on addressing any issues that led to the checklist errors in the election. It  become clear throughout the testimony that it would be impossible to recreate all the circumstances of an election that had already occurred and still be fair to the voters and both candidates. Voters have moved in and out since the election and voters had already made their choices known. Campaign funds had been raised and spent. In addition, in the many weeks it would take to carry out the logistics of a new election, the voters and the candidates would remain in limbo about who would be representing them for the remainder of the biennium. The House of Representatives made the decision that seemed the fairest considering all of these circumstances.

 Strengthening Our Election Processes

The Government Operations and Military Affairs committee started work on a bill to strengthen and clarify some of our elections processes in Vermont. The committee is considering proposals for a number of changes, including instituting Rank Choice Voting for presidential primaries and requiring candidates to remain affiliated with the one party they declare in the primary through the general election. In addition, the bill proposes to allow members of the military and others who cannot physically return their ballots to return them electronically (i.e., to transmit them, not to vote over the Internet). The bill proposes to require all candidates, both official and write-ins, to earn the same number of signatures to qualify for election. The bill clarifies some campaign finance rules, and requires that an audit done of checklists and district lines to prevent the errors that occurred in the 2024 Bennington 1 and 5 district elections. The committee expects to be engaging in robust discussions with many stakeholders about these proposals over the next few weeks.

Government Accountability

The Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs has been working on H.67 (An act relating to legislative operations and government accountability), a bill that would incorporate accountability mechanisms into the legislative process for legislation that has or will affect the entire Vermont population. The bill would create a standing committee of legislators who will choose issues of significant public concern to review and make recommendations about. The goal of this legislation is to systematize government accountability with simple, clear, independent, objective, and fact-based processes rather than relying upon individual legislators or committees to be effective.