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For weeks, Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos and Gov. Phil Scott have struggled to reach an agreement on a Covid-19 mail-in voting policy.
But on Tuesday, lawmakers on the Senate Government Operations Committee advanced a bill that would take Scott out of the equation, and give Condos the sole authority to make changes to election procedures during the pandemic.
Scott, a Republican, has been reluctant to sign off right away on a mail-in voting expansion for the November election. Condos, a Democrat, has wanted to swifty move forward with a plan to send every registered voter in the state a returnable ballot in November, citing public health concerns.
After reaching a standstill with the governor in talks on the matter, officials with the secretary of state’s office say that they need to act now if the system is going to be in place by November.
“All we know is that we need some certainty soon,” Deputy Secretary of State Chris Winters told the Senate Government Operations Committee on Tuesday. “Before we make too many more critical decisions, before we enter into more contracts, invest resources. We need that certainty now.”
Winters told the committee on Tuesday that “until now,” his office had been hopeful that the governor and his office would reach an agreement on a mail-in ballot plan.
In an attempt at compromise, Condos had recommended that the state move forward with the mail-in ballot expansion plan, but give the opportunity for Scott and Condos to opt out of it, if necessary, at some point after the August primary.
The governor agreed with this plan. However, he doesn’t want the decision to be made by himself and Condos. Instead, he wants a five-member committee to determine whether the universal mail-in ballot system is necessary, which the secretary of state opposes.
“That would take a decision right out of the hands of the governor in the secretary of state and we believe that’s contrary to what you directed,” Winters told lawmakers on Tuesday.
The legislation that passed the government operations committee in a 4-1 vote would nix the requirement for Scott and Condos to agree on proposed changes to election procedures during the pandemic.
That requirement was introduced in an emergency elections bill that passed the Legislature in April. But in recent weeks, Democratic leaders in the Statehouse have said they would intervene if Scott and Condos couldn’t reach consensus.
“In light of the failure of the Secretary of State and the Governor to reach an agreement on this, we have to act to reassure the public they’ll be able to vote easily and securely in November,” Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Ashe D/P Chittenden, said in a statement Tuesday.
Scott has said that he wouldn’t stand in the way if lawmakers decided to take away his authority over the upcoming elections.
“The Governor has also said for weeks that he’d be fine being taken out of this process and had not asked to be put in this position in the first place,” the governor’s spokesperson, Rebecca Kelley, said Tuesday.
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