Monday, September 21, 2020
The polls will still be open for residents who want to vote in person or drop off their ballots on Election Day. But Secretary of State Jim Condos said in a statement Monday he hoped that people would vote early to prevent town clerks from being deluged with last-minute absentee ballots.
“Seal, sign, and send!’ Condos said in a press release. “I am encouraging Vermont voters to help ‘flatten the absentee ballot curve’ by voting and returning their ballots as early as they feel comfortable.”
The start of the vote-by-mail process follows an extraordinary partisan tussle that mirrored the national debate over the wisdom of changing election processes during the public health emergency.
Supporters call voting by mail the best way to ensure people can cast a ballot without risking their health or that of poll workers. Critics charge, with little evidence, that such an expansion may increase the risk of voter fraud.
Gov. Phil Scott and Condos could not agree earlier this year on how or when to best roll out such a dramatic overhaul of the state’s system. Scott favored waiting until after the August primary to make a decision, and hoped that by November, people could safely vote in person. Condos insisted the wheels needed to start turning on such a large effort well before the primary. The legislature in June stripped Scott of a role in the decision.
Condos said voters should expect to receive their ballot between this week and early October.
Anyone who doesn’t get one by October 7 should contact their town clerk.
Election officials do not expect as much confusion with mail-in ballots as people experienced during the August primary.
In that contest, voters had three ballots to choose from — one for each major party — and needed to follow several steps to fill in, sign and return ballots.
This time around, voters will receive just one ballot, but Condos nevertheless urged people to pay attention.
“When Vermonters receive their ballots, it’s important that they follow the included instructions, such as placing their ballot in the voted ballot envelope, filling out the certificate on the envelope completely, and making sure to sign that certificate, for their vote to be counted,” he said.
Tags: mail-in voting , Gov. Phil Scott , Jim Condos , COVID-19 , Web Only , Image
Friday, September 18, 2020
In an interview late Friday, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told Seven Days that a rushed vote to confirm a nominee put forth by President Donald Trump would have lasting consequences for the federal judiciary.
"That would make a mockery of the Supreme Court," said Leahy, the dean of the Senate and most senior member of its Judiciary Committee. "It would totally politicize the Supreme Court. It would say only Republicans can be on the Supreme Court — and that would be so destructive of our whole system of justice."
If the Senate were to hold a confirmation vote just weeks before the November election, Leahy added, "I think it would be decades before the Supreme Court would regain any sense of integrity with the rest of the country."
Bars may resume counter service, Gov. Phil Scott announced on Friday, as long as patrons sit six feet apart and businesses install a clear plastic barrier between customers and bartenders.
Also on Friday, Scott said hotels can now book 100 percent of their rooms. They'd been operating at a 50-percent cap since June.
Tags: Amy Spear , Mike Piecek , Coronavirus , covid-19 , vermont tourism , lodging industry , hotel restrictions , bar restrictions , counter service , Web Only , Image
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Sen. Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia) warned her colleagues and the public, however, to brace for far more painful cuts ahead as revenues dry up and more difficult choices loom.
“The pandemic has hammered our revenues, and this year’ budget does not fully reflect that revenue loss,” Kitchel said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) said it had been “amazingly difficult” for Kitchel’s appropriations committee to juggle the budget interests of the governor and the House and Senate committees in the current climate.
The final tally was 103-47, surpassing the 100 votes needed for a veto override in the House. The Senate is virtually assured to do the same in the coming days, meaning the bill, H.688, will soon become the law of the land.
“A vision without a plan is a hallucination,” Rep. Tim Briglin (D-Thetford), a bill sponsor and chair of the House Energy and Technology Committee, said after the vote. “H.688 moves us from aspiration to accountability.”
Tags: climate change , global warming solutions act , greenhouse gas emissions , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Superintendent Tom Flanagan's announcement on Wednesday night follows the revelation last week that the district detected high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in the air of F Building, which houses classrooms for Burlington Technical Center and for special education students.
The school year had just begun when Flanagan announced on September 9 that classes would pivot to all-virtual instruction until September 21. That date is now pushed back at least four months.
"I know this news must come as a shock to many of you, and I know that many students are likely very disappointed to once again be missing out on so many in-person connections," Flanagan wrote in an email to parents on Wednesday. "I want to assure you that we will work as fast and as hard as we can to get students back into our buildings as soon as we can."
Tags: Burlington High School , Burlington Technical Center , BSD , PCB , air quality , Web Only , Image
The 4-1 vote means Officer Jason Ziter will return to school on Thursday driving an unmarked car, with a firearm, and wearing a "soft" uniform of khaki pants and a Winooski police polo shirt.
In a press release on Wednesday, the school district explained that Ziter would be armed per "the Winooski Police Department’s General Order issued by the chief of police, which states the SRO is an active duty police officer while serving the school district."
Since school started on September 8, Ziter had been reporting to the Winooski Police Department — and not to campus — because the school board accepted student demands over the summer that he be unarmed. The city had held firm that Ziter must be armed at school to fulfill his duties as a Winooski police officer.
Until this week, the school board had asserted that he must be unarmed. They had even recommitted to the idea at a special September 6 meeting.
But at Tuesday's meeting, board member Mike Decarreau said the governing body should have done community outreach and consulted with the police department before accepting the Winooski Students for Anti-Racism's demands about the school resource officer.
Board member Margaret Bass expressed frustration that the board had not adhered to proper process in making their August 11 decision. “We did not do what we should have done as elected officials,” she said.
Bass added that it was unconscionable that the board had made the decision without consulting with Winooski Police Chief Rick Hebert. Bass also spoke of her appreciation for Officer Ziter.
“We are deeply indebted to him for his work, but he does not do his work because he wears a gun. He does the work because of his heart,” she said.
Winooski School District parent teacher organization president Sarah McGowan-Frieje told board members that she was glad they admitted to not following their own policies in failing to get community input about the demands. She suggested that all of the students’ demands should be revisited, following proper procedure, before implementation.
At the end of the meeting, the board voted to accept a motion that overturned its acceptance of the students’ demand concerning the officer. Board member Alex Yin was the sole no vote, and Bass characterized her yes vote as “fraught.”
Bass, who is Black, said that there was a good lesson for students to learn in the board’s messy process. “Racism doesn’t go away just because you make a demand,” she said. “These battles have been hard fought in this nation since before I was born until now.”
In the coming months, the school district said in its press release on Wednesday, the board plans to use a third-party facilitator to lead a public education and community engagement process to discuss “the future of safety and security at WSD, including the SRO position.” Members of the Winooski Students for Anti-Racism, city employees and school district employees would all be part of the process.
After the meeting, Winooski High School math teacher Luke Dorfman wrote in an email to Seven Days that "the default setting of 'status quo' ... continues to amplify certain voices over others, centering the interests of people with power and privilege over those of people who have been most disempowered and marginalized.”
“Well, if we are committed to being an anti-racist district, then we need to change those policies and procedures,” wrote Dorfman, an ally of the Winooski Students for Anti-Racism. “What is the district leadership’s roadmap to make this happen?”
He said it confirmed his "worst fear" — that the school board and school leadership team "are not truly ready for systemic change."
Clarification, September 17, 2020: This story has been updated to more fully detail Dorfman's statement.
Tags: Winooski , school resource officer , armed , Winooski Students for Anti-Racism , Web Only , Image
The bill, which also called for clarification of rules for the development of recreational trails, was far more limited than the comprehensive reform bill passed earlier this year by the House.
That narrower scope of the Senate version of H.926 has disappointed some who had hoped for a sweeping reform of the state's seminal land-use law.
The measure nevertheless won wide support in the chamber. The portion of the bill requiring large development projects to avoid fragmenting forestland and blocking wildlife corridors passed 24-6. The trails piece passed unanimously.
“Act 250 has helped us live in greater harmony with nature and with each other,” Sen. Chris Bray (D-Addison) said. “But Act 250 is not a relic. As we change, and as our use of land changes, so too does Act 250 need to change with it.”
Tags: Act 250 , forest fragmentation , wildlife corridors , recreational trails , Web Only , Image
In an 11-page ruling issued on Wednesday afternoon, Judge Geoffrey Crawford wrote that he dismissed the complaint brought by five Vermont voters because they failed to demonstrate how Condos' plan would negatively impact them — a necessary prerequisite for any civil lawsuit.
In particular, Crawford rejected arguments that the universal vote-by-mail plan could deprive the plaintiffs of their individual rights to vote because they may potentially fail to receive a ballot in the mail and not recognize the need to follow up with their town clerk or go vote in person on Election Day.
"These are sophisticated voters who have gone to considerable lengths to obtain counsel skilled in election law and to file a lawsuit in federal court," Crawford wrote of the plaintiffs, who include Victory Town Clerk Tracey Martel, former state representative Robert Frenier and Rep. Brian Smith (R-Derby). "Of all people likely to be confused about how to vote, these plaintiffs may be last on the list."
Tags: Jim Condos , election lawsuit , Republican , mail-in voting , coronavirus , COVID-19 , Web Only , Image
House and Senate members of the S.54 conference committee signed off on their compromise proposal late Tuesday after settling two outstanding issues related to local funding and advertising, according to Rep. John Gannon (D-Wilmington).
They agreed to provide towns a share of the state's cannabis licensing fees instead of the tax revenue model preferred by the Senate. In exchange, the House dropped a controversial — and constitutionally dubious — all-out ban on weed advertising. Terms of the deal were first reported in the Bennington Banner.
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