On March 2, the Vermont House passed HB 97 by voice vote. It moves the petition deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from August to May. It also bans “sore losers.” But the bill was amended so it no longer bans fusion.
UPDATE: this post is inaccurate. The final version of the bill does not change the petition deadline. Also the bill is now HB 429, not HB97. For more details see the blog post of March 3.
The deadline change is unconstitutional. There are approximately 30 lawsuit decisions that say independent candidate deadlines cannot be earlier than the primary, and Vermont’s primary is in August.
Another bad ballot access bill.
So long as people accept that politicians MUST own the ballot, politicians will manipulate and abuse the population. Fascists must rig elections. ALL ballot access censorship (petitions, fees and vote quotas) must be abolished. It’s the least violent way to break free of bipartisan fascism.
The verb is missing from the first sentence. I think “Vermont House HB 97” should read “Vermont House passed HB 97”.
Modern technology makes it possible to create and print ballots quickly. And, modern technology also makes it possible for ballot petitions to be circulated in a variety of ways. There really is no good excuse to move petitioning deadlines earlier, except to limit ballot access.
Thank you, John.
There is no need for any modern technology to print ballots, petition deadlines, ballots or petitions. Voters can arrive to the election hall in person, stand up, and have their votes counted. But why would I need to tell Walter this when they’ve had town meetings and in person voting in his US State/Commonwealth/U.K. Colony for over 400 years?