Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was wrong when he claimed Vermont has made no changes in its election rules in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, who is seeking a correction.
Kavanaugh’s claim about Vermont came as the U.S. Supreme Court decided to quash a court order in Wisconsin that would have allowed state officials to count mail-in ballots that arrived up to six days after Election Day.
In a concurring opinion, Kavanaugh wrote that it should be up to state legislatures, not the courts, to make changes because of the pandemic.
In the opinion, Kavanaugh wrote that some state legislatures have made pandemic-related changes. He cited, for example, Mississippi and other states that moved to extend the deadline for returning absentee ballots.
He cited Vermont as an example of a state that hadn’t altered its elections procedures in 2020.
“Other states such as Vermont, by contrast, have decided not to make changes to their ordinary election rules, including to the Election Day deadline for receipt of absentee ballots,” Kavanaugh wrote.
“The variation in state responses reflects our constitutional system of federalism. Different state legislatures may make different choices,” Kavanaugh continued.
However, Vermont did move to change its election procedures this year. Most notably, the Vermont Legislature moved in June to authorize Condos to automatically send an absentee ballot to all registered voters in the state ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.
Responding to the news of Kavanaugh’s opinion on Tuesday, the Secretary of State’s Office noted that, while Vermont hasn’t changed the deadline for mailing in absentee ballots, it has made other changes.
“Justice Kavanaugh is incorrect about Vermont here while upending Wisconsin voting one week from the election. We held to an Election Day ballot receipt deadline because of the other changes we made — all voters had a ballot and prepaid return envelope in hand 30 DAYS before the election,” the Vermont Secretary of State’s office said on Twitter.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday on Zoom, Condos said he intends to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to correct the information in Kavanaugh’s opinion.
“Justice Kavanaugh got that information wrong in his decision and we plan on submitting a request to correct that, on the record, in his decision,” Condos said.
