Former SoS candidate uses little known Vt. law for vote-by-mail complaint

MIDDLEBURY | Former 2018 Vermont Republican candidate for secretary of state H. Brooke Paige has filed a formal complaint, under Vermont Law 17 V.S.A. § 2458, regarding the state's plan for "vote-by-mail" in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Paige claims there have been violations of Vermont's established election law relating to the conduct of Secretary of State Jim Condos in executing proposed temporary election procedures which include the "vote-by-mail" or VBM plan. Paige said that his concerns are over Condos' intentions to conduct a VBM mass distribution in the wake of the Vermont General Assembly's authorization, under S.348, removing Gov. Phil Scott (R) from the decision-making process. "Secretary Condos, I am sure now, has the impression that there is no 'backstop' to his intentions to conduct the Vermont general election as a VBM 'free for all' papering the countryside of our Green Mountains with over a half-million 'live ballots'. Jim may be correct in his assumption if I am unsuccessful in reigning in his actions through the use of the little known and almost never used Administrative Election Complaint Process Title 17, § 2458," Paige reported. "If you read through the complaint, you will get a pretty good idea of what I am attempting to accomplish and how the Section 2458 process works in allowing a complaint first filed with 'elections' to proceed to Superior Court and on appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court." Paige admitted that the complaint is a bit of a "Hail Mary" move played at the end of the game. "Since the Secretary of State's office is closed to the public, this complaint was sent by the U.S. Postal Service and was delivered to Condos and Senning (last week)...," he said. "I am hoping Secretary Condos has a change of heart and views my action as an excuse to step away from his reckless VBM adventure... Let's hope cooler heads prevail and Secretary Condos (or the Court) allow for a traditional general election in November." Paige's unusual complaint seeks to inform the Secretary of State that the proposed temporary election procedures (including a VBM plan), as contemplated by S.348, are unnecessary in light of Vermont's current early and absentee voting law. The early/absentee voting law is considered the most "lenient and comprehensive law in the country," Paige noted. "The implementation of S.348 will unnecessarily subject Vermont voters and the general election process itself to the potential for errors, omissions, and fraud sufficient to affect the propriety of the election and alter its outcome, as amplified throughout my complaint," Paige told The Eagle.

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Former SoS candidate uses little known Vt. law for vote-by-mail complaint

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