This is Secretary of State Jim Condos’ response to claims by the Ethan Allen Institute that in 2020, votes were cast in the name of 10 former Middlebury College students who are no longer local residents.
Despite what you read here, we do share the concern that VT’s voter checklist should always be as up-to-date as possible. And I can say that VT’s voter registration checklist is more accurate today than it was yesterday, last month, last year or in the last decade.
That being said, David Flemming and Meg Hansen clearly show a lack of understanding of how VT and Federal laws work with regard to voter registration and the maintenance of the voter checklist. In fact, it appears this was promoted as a public relations piece in support of the “Big Lie.”
Misinformation is very dangerous and since 2020, a threat to our democracy.
The VT Secretary of State does not have the authority to add or remove names to or from the voter checklist. Under Vermont law, those actions are the responsibility of the local town clerk and Board of Civil Authority.
Additions to the checklist are governed by 17 VSA 2144b. Generally, the clerk is empowered to add the names of applicants who submit a registration with the required information. If the clerk has questions about the information or cannot determine the person’s eligibility, he or she may forward the application to the BCA for their review and action.
Removal of names from the checklist is also governed by 17 VSA 2150. If you choose to read this section carefully you will gain a better understanding of the process for removing names.
In particular, subsection (d) describes the process for removing a name if the board believes the person no longer resides in the town. Before doing so, the Board is required to send the voter a notice at their last known address, requesting that the voter confirm they no longer live in the town, or alternatively to state that they do in fact still reside there. If the voter does not respond to the notice, the Board is required to wait until two General Elections have passed since the time of the notice, before removing the voter’s name. If a voter that has been sent a notice shows up to vote, or requests an absentee ballot, they are required to affirm their residency by signing an affidavit before they are allowed to cast a ballot.
This process (providing notice and an opportunity for response before removing the name of a voter that the Board believes no longer resides in town) is required by Federal Law, and is therefore the law in every state. You can find the federal law at 52 USC 20507(d).
Any person or entity, such as the EAI, is free to provide names of voters to the clerk or local BCA that they believe no longer reside in the town, as they have done. The BCA can consider these names and decide as a board whether or not a notice letter should be sent to the individuals identified.
I would also like to point out that, under state and federal law, voters who are on active duty in the military OR living overseas may remain registered and vote in the last place they resided in the United States. This is also true in Vermont for persons confined in a correctional institution (they may remain registered and vote in their last place of residence before being incarcerated). See 17 VSA 2122(a).
It is for reasons like this that it is not always as easy as finding that someone no longer resides in town and therefore assuming their name should be removed. It is this careful consideration of each individual instance that occurs when the BCA decides, as a group, whether or not to send a notice letter to any particular individual.
Mr. Flemming’s statement that “Voter rolls in Vermont have not been cleaned in decades” is simply not accurate, and frankly misinformed. It is this kind of hyperbole that is causing undue mistrust of our elections. Boards of Civil Authority throughout the state are engaging in the process described above on an ongoing basis. By law, they are required to perform a name-by-name review of the voter checklist every two years. See 17 VSA 2150(c).
Pursuant to this provision, the answer to the question of whether the voters rolls will be “cleaned and updated” prior to the 2022 election is yes – they are being updated all of the time on an ongoing basis and have been updated on an almost daily basis.
By making statements like “Voter rolls in Vermont have not been cleaned in decades,” you are doing a disservice to the hard work of all of the Vermonters who serve on these volunteer BCAs and take the work they do very seriously.
In addition, Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) provides a daily update of any changes to driver’s licenses that are then forwarded to the Town Clerks — this could include address, and or name changes.
We did follow up with the clerk in Middlebury to provide any assistance or guidance with the processing of the information you provided, as necessary. Ultimately, by law, it will be up to the BCA in Middlebury to determine whether or not to send a notice letter to the individuals you have identified and initiate the process of removing their name, or receiving confirmation they are still eligible to vote in Middlebury.
The Democrat take-over of the federal government in 2020, and the out-of-control federal deficit spending, has and will cause huge damage to the US, from which it will be difficult to recover
A good example of damage is the outrageous, country-destroying, “just walk-in, anybody-from-anywhere-is-welcome” southern border, to purposely change the demographics of the US in favor of Democrat
The electricity black-out problem Texas experienced, due to a rare cold spell a year ago, lasting just a few days, compared to the four-year calamity of open borders, is like a mouse to an elephant.
It is absolutely imperative to vote these incompetent, socialistic, communistic, un-American imposters out of office in November 2022
We have to:
1) Turn out EN MASSE, to offset any and all election shenanigans, perpetrated by desperate Democrat, to hold on to power
2) Enough people must turn out to witness and record, on audio/video, any and all suspicious election events, AROUND THE CLOCK; give them no breathing space.
We have to:
1) Ban ballot drop boxes to reduce fraud opportunities, as was done in Wisconsin. See URL
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/02/breaking-wisconsin-supreme-court-rules-ballot-dropboxes-not-legitimate-upcoming-april-election/
2) Ban universal mail-in voting to reduce fraud opportunities
3) Sanitize the registered voter lists, to eliminate counting votes of people who: 1) are dead; 2) who never existed (fictitious names on voter lists); 3) who moved out of state; 4) who are illegal aliens; 5) who are underage; 6) who are convicted felons; 7) who are registered, but almost never vote (a voter not voting 2 times in a row, should be stricken from voter lists; would need to reregister)
Just make up a whole lot of fictitious names. and vote them as well, as was done in Arizona. See URLs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yprnrJlrsgc
https://skagitrepublicans.com/EmailFromArizonaTechWorkerAlleges35000VotesGiventoDemocratsinPimaCountyWitness
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/pima-county-election-data-analysis-by-dr-shiva-audit-team-based
4) Ban universal ballot harvesting by shady Democrat operatives, who are compensated at $10/ballot, then deposit the harvested ballots into unsupervised ballot drop boxes, mostly at night, with video cameras too far from the boxes so any images are legally useless.
“Elected” Democrats would be seated, before any entity could find out what happened to have a proper court case, often several months later
5) All “vote counting centers” must be staffed with an equal number of Republican and Democrat vote counters and observers.
At present, in Democrat-controlled cities, “vote counting” is done primarily in Democrat-dominated, vote-counting centers, staffed by “trusted” Democrat operatives.
6) Require official voter photo ID, and unique voter number ID, such as a valid driver license, social security number, etc.
These are the most egregious election system flaws, that enabled the Democrats to get “elected” in 2020, and likely in prior elections as well.
This THIRD WORLD sordidness of US elections has to end, before it will totally ruin the US
We pray,ALL THINGS HIDDEN IN DARKNESS WILL BE BROUGHT OUT INTO THE LIGHT.
Having served for around 20 years, as either a Justice of the Peace and as a Selectboard member on our local Board of Civil Authority, the regular periodic process of purging the voter rolls, described by Secretary Condos, is indeed how it is done in Vermont.
In our town there is almost always a call to help with work at the polls on election day. I would urge people who are concerned about the integrity of elections to see if you can get involved in the process in your community.
Hey Jimmy boy, Still don’t want to admit there was voting fraud here in Vt huh?? Thank Goodness I didn’t hold my breath waiting to hear from you about my husband who’s been dead for 17 yrs getting a voting ballot… His name was not on the town’s register list..
You’re nothing but a crook !!!
Since his office has access to all voter registration records, it seems like he ought to be leading the effort to clean up the voter roles. Yet here he is saying its not his job. — I will never vote for any democrat ever. And I use to consider my self one.
And if its too big an effort for his office, then make the voter lists available for download to any and every citizen so we can look them over and report problems. Its really simple to get help. Just ask and stop being a commie.
How about simply creating a law making it illegal with stiff consequences if you vote where you are not eligible to vote. And then using the law! This pushes the responsibility to where it belongs, on the illegal voter!
Cleaning up the Voter rolls would also be a good start. Unfortunately Vermont uses the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) to clean it’s voter rolls. Originally funded by the Soros Open Society, it is now responsible for cleaning the voter rolls in 31 States. Oddly, ERIC has no requirement or mandate that member States clean up their voter rolls. States are only “strongly encouraged” to request ERIC’s voter updates at least once a year. If a member fails to make a request in 425 days, the data will be sent automatically. What’s even more odd, and seemingly corrupt, is that ERIC does NOT want to know who is voting illegally. Their rules explain that “Under no circumstances shall the members transmit any record indicating an individual is a non-citizen of the U.S.” as stated in Exhibit A, 2b. If ERIC hears no evil, then they see no evil.
https://yournews.com/2022/01/21/2285284/whos-cleaning-our-voter-rolls-soros-founded-and-funded-eric/
Business as usual, right Jimmy?
You crooked pos.