Your calls and emails worked
This progress would not have happened without the hundreds of Vermonters who called and emailed their representatives to oppose the legislation. Thank you for your engagement. You have once again demonstrated that regular people taking action in our state government has a major impact on our democracy.
We are incredibly proud of our Progressive House Caucus who worked tirelessly to build a coalition of Progressives, Democrats, Republicans, and independents to ensure that the worst aspects of the legislation did not pass, while also supporting amendments to the bill that would have made positive changes like moving forward with Ranked Choice Voting.
That said, there is still much work to be done, and the legislation that passed the House is far from perfect. As passed, H.429 still has several issues we do not support, including:
Preventing candidates who lose a party nomination from appearing on the general election ballot, even if they win another party nomination or choose to run as an independent. A coalition of Progressives, Democrats, Republicans, and independents attempted to amend this language out of H.429, but that vote failed on a 59 – 78 vote. This part of the legislation restricts ballot access to candidates at a time when we should be making it easier for candidates to seek political office. You can find the role call vote here on page 382 of the house journal. Please reach out to thank the representatives who voted yes.
Raising campaign contribution limits from political candidates to political parties. While we were able to make significant progress on this part of the legislation which originally allowed for unlimited campaign contributions from parties to candidates, the legislation still represents an increase in the campaign contribution limits and will allow for more money to be spent in our political system.
Demographic information of candidates. Especially during a time of rising hate and threats directed towards elected officials, we need to ensure that demographic data including gender and race data is protected and not accessible to those who would seek to target, threaten, and harass based on an elected official’s identity.
While we have made very good progress, this fight is far from over. H.429 will now move to the Vermont Senate where we will have an opportunity to continue working to improve the legislation.
Please stay tuned for more ways to stay involved on this and other issues we are working on this year.
Thank you so much for your support. We would not have come this far without you.
In solidarity,
Josh Wronski
Director, Vermont Progressive Part
