A civil lawsuit claims Burlington is flouting state law by avoiding appointing more Republicans to a board responsible for maintaining the voter registration list and ensuring fair elections. The city has filed a motion to dismiss.
Filed Nov. 25 in Vermont Superior Court by two residents, the lawsuit alleges the city “has refused to permit Republicans their statutory-required, minimum representation” on the Board for Registration of Voters.
The city filed a motion to dismiss on Jan. 3, claiming that the state law governing civil authority boards does not apply to this board.
The Vermont statute pertaining to elections ensures fair representation by mandating that boards of civil authority contain at least three members of each major political party. The city charter does not mandate a minimum but sets a maximum of six members of the same political party for its board of registration of voters.
The 12-member board in Burlington currently comprises five Democrats, four Progressives, two Independents and one Republican.
When prior inadequate Republican representation on the board was pointed out by the chairman of the Vermont Republican Party in 2021, the City Council followed the city attorney’s advice and appointed two Republicans to the board, the lawsuit notes.
Communications shared in the lawsuit indicate that city officials and Article 16 of the city charter discussed the issue pertaining to the Board of Civil Authority, as it was called at the time.
Justin St. James, then assistant city attorney, advised the City Council president “to fill both the vacant position and a new, temporary 13th position with Republican applicants,” whose terms would end June 30, 2022, at which point the board would revert to 12 members.
“I am seeking both to inform you of the issue and the likelihood of litigation if we do not comply, as well as to see conceptually how you feel,” St. James wrote in an Aug. 20, 2021 email.
Max Tracy, former council president, thanked him for the explanation and wrote he was “in support of appointing the two additional Republicans to ensure that we are in compliance.”
When a similar situation occurred last year and appellants William Oetjen and Jeffrey Comstock brought the matter to the council, they got a different response, said Brady Toensing, one of the lawyers representing the two Republican residents.
Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak and the City Council were asked to fix the balance of membership on the board “meant to ensure not only fair and properly functioning elections, but also public confidence in the legitimacy of Vermont elections,” but did not comply, Toensing wrote in an email.
Documents filed in court indicate that Oetjen, the chair of the Burlington Republican Party, submitted his and Comstock’s application in his Sept. 10 request for appointment to the board; three other Republican residents also joined the request.
The lawsuit states that the City Council met in executive session on Nov. 3 and decided not to appoint any additional members to the board and informed the applicants accordingly.
The plaintiffs said they are qualified and allege the city “has wrongfully refused” to appoint them to the Board for Registration of Voters.
The city’s elected leaders “have chosen to violate their oaths of office by flouting this election integrity law and forced concerned citizens into costly litigation to make them obey the law,” Toensing said.
The city’s recent motion to dismiss argues that the state statute cited applies only to boards of civil authority and claims that the Board for Registration of Voters is not one.
To conclude that it is “would illogically result in a requirement that any of several City boards, commissions, committees, or councils would be required to expand its membership if it did not include at least three representatives from each major political party,” city attorney Jessica Brown wrote in an email.
The city board had three Republican members in March 2024; one resigned in April 2024 and a second left in June 2025. No Republican residents applied to fill those vacancies during the open application process, according to Brown.
The lawsuit states that in August 2025, one of the two Republican members on the board
resigned and was replaced with a Democrat, and that “no effort was made to recruit a Republican to fill this seat.”
While Burlington claims it does not have a civil authority board, the city’s own description states that the Board for Registration of Voters is responsible for ensuring accurate voter lists and responding to voter registration issues on Election Day.
“Therefore, the Board for Registration of Voters, which performs the same relevant functions as the Board of Civil Authority, must abide by the law that requires a minimum number of major political party members,” the lawsuit states.
In its motion to dismiss, the city agrees the Board for Registration of Voters is responsible for the maintenance of the voter list, which in a typical municipality is a function of the Board of Civil Authority, but states the two boards are “quite different.”
“Burlington is unique among Vermont municipalities in that no single official or body functions as its board of civil authority for all purposes,” the motion states.
“It has a unique structure, role, and composition. Its membership is chosen in an entirely different manner from a town board of civil authority. And it is subject to its own rule to ensure diverse party representation,” Assistant City Attorney Erik Ramakrishnan wrote in the motion to dismiss.
Brown further clarified that ward officers have managed the polls on election day in Burlington at least since the adoption of the current 1949 City Charter. General election planning decisions have since been the responsibility of the City Council and mayor.
Toensing claims this is “a silly argument to try to mask the city’s misconduct.”
“Section 43 of the municipal charter establishes a Board of Civil Authority, but then delegates all election-related duties of that board to what it calls the Board for Registration of Voters,” he said. “If it walks, looks, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.”
“Vermont voters would be justified in asking why the Secretary of State, whose office’s primary mission is to promote public trust in elections, has chosen to remain silent instead of defending this election integrity law,” he added.
The city conferred with the Secretary of State’s Office before litigation was filed, said Brown, and received no further comments or questions.
A spokesperson from the Secretary of State’s Office said the “complicated wrinkle” is that Burlington has its own charter and the dispute would have to be resolved in court.
“The short answer is, we don’t have enforcement authority or run local elections,” said Sean Sheehan, director of elections.
