Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky: VT House passes Town Meeting Day bill | Jan. 15, 2021
Friend,
This is Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky from Essex with your legislative update for the week. Your progressive legislators have been hard at work drafting dozens of bills and resolutions-- but I want to take the time to focus on a bill that will change this year’s Town Meeting Day, as well as tell you some other things I’m working on in the Government Operations committee.
This week, the House passed H.48, a bill that gives cities and towns the option to create alternative procedures for this year’s Town Meeting Day in response to COVID-19. This means that towns and cities are able to change the date that they hold their annual town meeting and allows for town clerks to send mail-in ballots to all active registered voters in their towns. Since each municipality has widely varying needs, this bill provides the flexibility for each city or town to make the decision as to what to change(s) will best meet their needs. This bill was voted out of Senate Government operations yesterday and will be voted on by the entire senate today, and should be to the Governor by next week! Once it’s passed, be sure to check with your town clerks to see what changes they are making for this year’s town meeting.
I am also working on two other government operations bills. The first is a ballot curing bill. During this past election cycle, the large influx of mail-in ballots really emphasized major issues with our mail-in ballot system. Right now, if mail-in ballots are returned but defective (including missing a signature or not being sent in the correct envelope), there is no way for voters to correct these errors and have their vote counted. That means if you mail in your ballot with any number of small errors, you will not have the opportunity to cancel that ballot and vote in person or correct the mistake on your ballot before the election. This past primary election in Vermont, the Secretary of State reports that more than 6,000 ballots were rejected due to these small errors. What this bill would do is provide an opportunity for voters to either correct their mail-in ballot before the election or have the defective ballot not counted and marked invalid, so that they can vote on election day. It would also allow our town clerks to begin counting ballots up to 30 days before the election to provide more opportunity for them to contact voters with defective ballots. Our democracy thrives when we make voting as accessible as possible to all people, this bill is one step towards a more inclusive and participatory democracy.
Another bill I will be working on with Rep. Laura Sibilia (I), and Rep. Logan Nicoll (D), is a ranked-choice voting bill. Ranked-choice voting is a system where voters, instead of just indicating their top choice for any office, can rank candidates for each office on the ballot in order of preference. This system provides more choices for voters and requires that a candidate will have majority support to win their elections in races with more than two people without the concern of splitting the vote. It furthermore discourages negative campaigning and eliminates the need for run-off elections. You can read more about the benefits of ranked-choice voting here. This system was recently enacted in Maine and is used in limited ways in other states. Stay tuned for opportunities to learn more about Ranked Choice Voting (RCV).
These are just a few of the things I’ll be working on during this legislative session to help strengthen our democracy and make it safer and more accessible for all Vermonters. I hope you will continue to stay in touch as the session develops to see what other exciting legislation the progressive caucus is working on to build a more just and sustainable future for all Vermonters!
Thank you for your continued support!
In solidarity,
Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky, Chittenden 8-1
Progressives in the news
Rep. Vyhovsky
Additional quote from Rep. Vyhosky: “Constituents continue to be concerned. They continue to want more to be done. I’ve been in constant communication with people who have shared information. I have had people share lists of names with me. There are screenshots of Facebook posts. So I don’t know how accurate they are. People just want something to be done,”
Rep. Surprenant
The 2021 Legislative Session Begins Wednesday. How's That Gonna Go?- Jane Lindholm & Ruby Smith, VPR
Rep. Small
50 Women Making the World a Better Place in 2021- InStyle Magazine
