The national and state branches of the Republican Party are suing two Vermont cities for allowing residents without American citizenship to vote in municipal elections.
The Republican National Committee and the Vermont Republican Party filed the complaints Monday against the cities of Winooski and Montpelier in Vermont Superior Court. Voters in both cities amended their charters — Montpelier did so in 2018, Winooski last year — to give noncitizens a vote in local elections.
In June, the Legislature approved those amendments after overriding a veto from Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who told the Legislature at the time to “establish clarity and consistency” on voting qualifications from municipality to municipality.
Scott doubled down on his position Tuesday at an unrelated press conference in Montpelier.
“We can’t do this piecemeal because the approach that Winooski took was different than what Montpelier had taken,” Scott said. “We just needed all the same, so there’s no confusion, and I think that can be done very easily.”
But the leader of Scott’s party, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, showed no interest in any type of voting for residents without American citizenship, saying in a written statement Tuesday that the charter changes were a “far-left assault on election integrity.”
“Unlike radical Democrats, we believe that our elections should be decided solely by American citizens,” McDaniel said in the statement. “This is a matter of principle and we will fight in all 50 states to ensure this remains the case.”
The legal debate appears to hinge on whether the Legislature can decide who participates in local elections or whether the Vermont Constitution restricts the franchise to U.S. citizens.
The lawsuits, which use nearly the same language, argue that Article 42 of the state constitution declares who can and cannot vote in local elections when it states, “Every person of the full age of eighteen years who is a citizen of the United States … shall be entitled to all the privileges of a voter of this state.”
But that section of the constitution refers to a person’s ability to vote in state elections, not local ones, according to Peter Teachout, a professor at Vermont Law School who specializes in constitutional law.
In a memo delivered to the Legislature in 2019, Teachout cited four Vermont Supreme Court cases from the 18th and 19th centuries that found the Legislature had power to control local election eligibility.
Still, the state and national Republicans cited more legal disagreements with the charter changes. While the suit acknowledges that, at one point in Vermont history, anyone who owned property could participate in local elections, it contends that the voting process has evolved enough in the past 150 years to justify a different interpretation.
“Many local elections are procedurally indistinguishable from state elections,” the plaintiffs wrote, noting that voters register for local, state and federal elections using the same form.
Both charter changes instruct the city clerks to keep separate lists of voters for local and state or federal elections, according to the lawsuit.
Montpelier Mayor Anne Watson denounced the lawsuit in an interview, noting that a “clear majority of Montpelier voters voted to have this measure.”
“We are a nonpartisan local government here in Montpelier, and it’s unfortunate that this has been made a partisan issue,” Watson said.
Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott declined to comment on the lawsuit. Both mayors said the lawsuit had not yet been served to them.
State Rep. Hal Colston, D-Winooski, who introduced the Winooski charter change for approval in the House, blasted Republicans in a written statement.
“It is apparent to me that the vestiges of xenophobia are alive today with the RNC’s effort to sue the cities of Montpelier and Winooski to allow legal residents who are not yet citizens to vote only in local elections,” Colston said. “This action of the RNC does not surprise me as they seek to turn over every stone to suppress the voice of voters.”
Foreign-born people accounted for 21.5% of Winooski residents from 2015 to 2019, according to census data, though it’s unclear how many among that group have attained citizenship.
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, who brought the Winooski amendment before the Vermont Senate for approval, said she believes there is adequate legal standing for noncitizen voting on the local level.
“It seems like the Republican Party heralds local control until the community has decided what is best for its future,” Ram Hinsdale said in an interview.
Additionally, refugees must live in the U.S. for at least five years before they’re allowed to apply for citizenship, Ram Hinsdale said.
“That’s a long time to have kids in school and pay local taxes without being able to be a part of local decision-making,” Ram Hinsdale said.