Four election-related changes to the Burlington city charter passed a second reading in the Vermont Senate on Wednesday, paving the way for final passage and then heading to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk.
Burlington voters passed the charter changes by wide margins on Town Meeting Day this year. Those changes would allow noncitizen voting in city elections, expand ranked-choice voting to more city offices, including mayoral races, create a new map for election ward boundaries and give some flexibility to where polling places are located.
The Senate breezed through the four changes in around 13 minutes on Wednesday morning. By the fourth item, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman made light of the repetitive-sounding resolutions.
“In case you think you’re living through the matrix, you are not,” Zuckerman noted before the second reading of H.509, the item related to the noncitizen voting.
The Senate’s final passage is expected to occur on Thursday, after the third reading. Following that, it would be sent to Scott. Scott vetoed similar resolutions for Montpelier and Winooski in 2021, but the Senate overrode him.
Reached by email on Wednesday, Jason Maulucci, a spokesman for Scott, said “The Governor has not yet reviewed the charter changes, but on non-citizen voting generally, he remains concerned by the patchwork approach. The governor believes there should be consistency with election laws.”
Maulucci pointed to previous statements by Scott that called on the Legislature to enact a statewide policy on noncitizen voting.
The Burlington measures passed the House on May 2, with some Republican pushback on the basis of constitutionality.
Rep. Art Peterson, R-Clarendon, quoted a section from Chapter Two of the Vermont Constitution that reads, “Every person of the full age of 18 years who is a citizen of the United States, having resided in this State for the period established … shall be entitled to all the privileges of a voter of this state.”
“That, to me, clearly states that you must be a citizen to vote,” Peterson said. “All privileges, to me, means all the elections, not just some. So, to me, this bill is unconstitutional.”
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled in January that noncitizen voting in local elections does not violate the state constitution.
“What this does is expand access to democracy without changing the constitution,” said Rep. Brian Cina, P/D-Burlington.
Ranked-choice voting, already approved for Burlington City Council elections, would expand to other city elections under this year’s charter change, including mayoral, school board and ward officer races. Last year, Scott allowed the city council ranked-choice resolution to become law without his signature.
The election ward boundary changes would have the most significant impact on Ward 8, long criticized as a gerrymandered student ward for its high percentage of on-campus college students. This year’s charter change splits up the students more evenly while keeping the city’s current configuration of eight wards and four districts, each represented by one city councilor.
