Vermont GOP meets with national counterparts, hears talk on election integrity and recruitment

The Vermont Republican Party held a meeting Saturday with Tommy Hicks, the Republican National Committee’s co-chair since 2019, who spoke on the need to get more representation in state government and push for election integrity measures.

“The polls show the American people overwhelmingly are with us — 80 percent of the American people support voter ID, they see through the lies of the Democrats and their partners in the mainstream media and big tech and it’s spreading,” Hicks told the audience.

Michael Bielawski/TNR

MORE GOP REPRESENTATION NEEDED: Recruitment of new candidates and election integrity are among several pressing needs that Vermont GOP members need to focus on, according to Republican National Committee co-chair Tommy Hicks.

As support, he pointed to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld Arizona’s ban on ballot harvesting.

“It’s one of the most corrupt practices in politics today. This case was a win for the Constitution because it clearly states that the states, not the federal government, can control their election policy,” he said.

Hicks appeared to be referencing a federal bill, HR.1, that if approved would override state voter-identification requirements, create lax mail-in voting procedures, and lay the groundwork for an election system with few security features.

HR.1 was strongly praised by Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos.

Another priority topic on Hicks’ list was recruitment of candidates, especially in Vermont, where both chambers in the General Assembly lack the votes to sustain a veto by Gov. Phil Scott.

“I don’t mean to beat a dead horse here, [but] we are the party of opportunity and we protect Americans’ values, and the Democrats have been hijacked by the radical left,” he said. “So each conversation that everybody in this room has to recruit somebody into our party is going to end up benefiting our children’s and our grandchildren’s future because we will still have a republic.”

The Vermont Senate currently has 21 Democrats, two Progressives, and seven Republicans. The Vermont House consists of 92 Democrats, seven  Progressives, five independents, and 46 Republicans.

Hicks also took aim at the Biden administration’s new annual federal budget of more than $6 trillion.

“We’re paying more for everything because Democrats are paying people not to work and they are blowing out the national deficit to do it,” he said. “So the results are, effectively, a tax increase on all of us, on all working families who are already taxed enough.”

Vermont GOP lawsuit regarding noncitizen voting

Deb Billado, chairwoman of the Vermont GOP, said at the meeting that legal action will be taken against the cities of Winooski and Montpelier for charter changes that allow noncitizen voting.

“For people’s information, we’re not sitting still on that particular issue. We believe that it goes directly against the Vermont State Constitution section 42 and we are moving forward with legal action,” Billado said.

Vermont GOP opposes vaccine passports

Wendy Wilton, the former director of the U.S. Farm Service Agency in Vermont under President Trump, proposed a resolution that passed unanimously banning the use of vaccine passports for any travel or other services in Vermont.

“My concern is about rights and about privacy — your medical privacy, our rights as individuals — and never before have we required someone in our history, have we ever had someone show proof of vaccination to be a citizen in this country,” she said.

“I would perceive that if this were to occur in any state, it creates two classes of citizens: those who can go to the Flynn for a performance and those who can’t, those who go to the Statehouse during the legislative session and those who can’t. They were actually talking about this.”

Michael Bielawski is a reporter for True North. Send him news tips at bielawski82@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TrueNorthMikeB.

Image courtesy of Michael Bielawski/TNR

3 thoughts on “Vermont GOP meets with national counterparts, hears talk on election integrity and recruitment

  1. It’s over in Vermont. The last republican elected to a statewide office is in run now and he is more a traditional democrat than he is a republican and does very little to support his chosen party.

    • We are in an interesting spot in time. People are starting to understand the problems.

      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/revolt-jenna-ellis-leaving-republican-party-tells-viewers-ashamed-part-party-ronna-mcdaniel-chairwoman-video-ronnamustgo/

      Washington is filled with 96% of people who do not work for the American people, nor the constitution. When 96% of the people in Washington vote for Biden, while half of those people are “supposedly Republican or working for the Republican Party” and vote Biden, just like our Governor, you know where the problem is.

      Sometimes things have to get so bad, that is the only way for change. Vermont having just received billions of dollars from the fed will not be changing direction in this election cycle that’s for sure. There is no indication that any change is coming our way in any shape or form.

      Socialism works pretty well with other peoples money and we haven’t run out yet.

      • Poster boy for “Figures don’t lie but liars can figure”

        We have a right to own opinion but not own facts. Calling bs on your routine fuzzy math. Kindly prove your numbers using verifiable info – failing to do so leaves no choice but to render as more bald lies.

        Base all of your ‘factoids’ upon the sinking sand of unprovable numbers conjured by very own mystery religion

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