[V]ermont’s top election official said Monday it doesn’t appear the former editor of a Washington political news operation is eligible to run for lieutenant governor.
Secretary of State Jim Condos said he consulted with the Attorney General’s Office and, based on news reports, he said it does not appear that Garrett Graff can meet the state’s requirement for how long a candidate must live in Vermont before running for the No. 2 post.
State statutes require a candidate for governor and lieutenant governor “shall have resided in this State four years next preceding the day of the election,” which Condos said referred to the four years directly prior to an election.
Questions about Graff’s eligibility were first reported by Seven Days.
Based on news reports that the 34-year-old Vermont native has been living out-of-state for the past decade, Condos said “We are not sure how Mr. Graff could meet this” requirement.
Condos said Graff would not be precluded from trying to run but that another candidate could challenge his eligibility if he decided to file.
Graff on Monday insisted he’s on solid footing and that an election expert in Vermont told him that he’s eligible. He plans to run as a Democrat.
“I’m a Vermonter,” Graff said in an email to VTDigger. “I was born in Vermont, raised in Vermont, and I wake up every day of my life a Vermonter. I’ve consulted with the state’s leading expert on election law, Paul Gillies, and I have no doubt that I meet the residency requirement. He said it’s not even close.”
Gillies, a deputy secretary of state for 12 years, was not available for comment. Graff did not return messages seeking further comment.
Graff told VTDigger he and his wife had purchased a house in Burlington and planned to move to Vermont next week, that he did not have a job lined up and that he intended to run for the lieutenant governor post.
Condos said there is a different definition for “residency’’ in order to register to vote that is less stringent than the statute on candidate eligibility requirements and perhaps Graff had looked at that.
Michael Duane of the Attorney General’s Office said the office advised Condos that his interpretation was correct, that a candidate for lieutenant governor has to have lived in Vermont for four years before the election “without interruption of residency.”
“We also advised the secretary that what constitutes ‘resided’ is a case-by-case, fact specific, individual determination based on a variety of factors. We also advised the secretary that since we have not knowledge of any facts regarding the circumstances of Mr. Graff or any other person’s residency, that we can offer no opinion on that particular question,” Duane said.
“Maybe he’s lived here for the past four years and commuted to Washington,” Condos said.
Also seeking the lieutenant governor’s job being vacated by Republican Phil Scott, who is running for governor, are Democrats Kesha Ram, Brandon Riker and independent Dr. Louis Meyers, along with Republican Randy Brock.
Meyers has reportedly said he’s lived in Vermont for three years and Election Day is a year away.
