Vermont election officials are worried that a recent executive order, along with a bill passed by the U.S. House, will create undue barriers to voting, as well as open up town clerks and their assistants to criminal prosecution.
Kari Clark, town clerk in Rutland Town, told the select board last week that an executive order from President Donald Trump was causing concern among the state’s town clerks.
“It’s going to be a nightmare,” said Clark.
On March 25, Trump signed an executive order, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” which would require everyone registering to vote in a federal election to present in-person documents verifying their citizenship.
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the SAVE Act, which, according to the League of Women Voters, has provisions similar to the executive order.
Clark told the board that she’d received a call that day from an elderly woman from New York state looking for her birth certificate because she does not have a REAL ID or an enhanced driver’s license. The woman also didn’t have a computer and was immobile, making getting these documents difficult.
Clark said there will likely be many more people contacting town clerks with questions and issues such as these.
She said there appear to be criminal penalties for election officials who register someone improperly, which is frightening.
Diane Judd, town clerk of Holland, who serves as president of the Vermont Municipal Town Clerks Association, said she’s heard from a few town clerks who’ve reported their assistants were extremely concerned about the possible new requirements and were thinking of resigning.
Judd said she’s personally not had any questions from the public about the issue. She said that since it only appears to pertain to federal elections, and there are none this year in Vermont, that there’s time to figure things out.
Judd said that Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas has been handling the matter well and is keeping town clerks well informed.
“The SAVE Act is essentially the executive order, and so they accomplish the same thing and that is to require every voter to present in-person their documentary proof of citizenship to be on the voter registration rolls,” said Copeland Hanzas. “And that means gathering up your birth certificate, a current photo ID, and any other documents that would link your name at birth to your name now, whether you were adopted, whether you changed your name when you got married, all of those subsequent documentations of who you are. And it would require town and city clerks to log and capture proof of those documents, because it also criminalizes town and city clerks who register someone to vote in the absence of those documents.”
Copeland Hanzas said the executive order is being challenged in court by Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark, along with about 18 other states. She added that she doubts the SAVE Act will become law, though it will be watched in the U.S. Senate.
Copeland Hanzas said that it would be a good idea for voters to begin the process of getting the paperwork they’ll need should the order stand and or the law pass. Copeland Hanzas said she herself has been getting her own records in order and, so far, it’s taken several weeks.
“I am deeply troubled by this naked attempt to disenfranchise voters, particularly married women, low-income and elderly voters, and active-duty military members,” stated Clark, in a release on April 3. “Even viewed in the most charitable light, this is a solution looking for a problem, as illegal, non-citizen voter fraud is virtually nonexistent. An American’s right to vote is sacred and must be protected.”
