S.117 becomes law with Gubernatorial Whining Statement
Governor Douglas allowed S.117, an act changing the date of Vermont’s Primary Election to become law yesterday without his signature. This new law which moves the primary to August 24th brings Vermont into compliance with a Federal requirement regarding a minimum of 45 days for overseas voters (mostly service members) to return their absentee ballots.
Other states that faced this issue include Minnesota which made similar changes months ago. Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty signed it with Minnesota National guard troops present at the ceremony.
However Governor Douglas opposed the change, and until today’s acquiescence had been coy about whether he would veto the bill.
Characteristically he did not miss the opportunity to restate his well known objections including his concern that “Vermonters often enjoy their hard-earned vacations and surely are not focused on an election…”
Accompanying his press release with his own petulant version of a presidential signing statement, Douglas offered up a sort of gubernatorial whining statement that lamented ;
“But now, in the guise of assuring that the votes of our brave men and women in the military are counted, as of course they should be, the Legislature has passed S. 117, which in all likelihood will discourage voter participation.
… with a strong upward trend, I can only see positive outcomes from this. We ask for significant sacrifices from our National Guard members – they shouldn’t have to sacrifice their right to vote because the Governor doesn’t want our democracy to interfere with his vacation.
It’s not exactly the first time that Jim Douglas has taken the passive-aggressive approach to Legislative actions he doesn’t like. This is, according to Jim, “leadership.”
The more Jim Douglas is perceived as a lame duck, the lamer he gets.
this action had more to do with NOT wanting the VETO override number to get larger than anything else… letting it slide past while Jim was frowning about something else allows him to save a little face. If only our team could get that much solidarity behind other assaults Jim is taking on the quality of life in Vermont.
It’s a small and relatively miniscule gain for uniformed voters. Any benefit to Vermonters in uniform is offset by the many Vermont residents on active duty stationed around the world who continue to be denied their full rights as a citizen through the introduction of measures from the floor in Town Meeting. It is also questionable that while in the past the federal government had to resort to legal action to force Ms. Markowitz to comply with the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, suddenly when there is a single aspect of the law which offers potential benefits for her campaign she is fired up to implement it, “for the troops” of course. Instead of focusing solely on the 45 day requirement, it would be better to start with the initial premise of the bill; “(1) The right to vote is a fundamental right.” and change Vermont laws as necessary to allow the full execution of that right by all those who defend it.
The problem that had existed:
http://www.pewcenteronthestate…
Results from Minnesota’s efforts:
https://www.overseasvotefounda…
One wonders what such an earlier date will mean in terms of lower voter turnout, including among some college-aged students?
Then, with Brian Dubie not facing a primary, there could be Democratic primary spoilers (i.e., Republican cross-overs) voting for the Democratic candidate that Dubie is more likely to beat.
Thus, it is no wonder why Governor Douglas decided to let the primary bill become law without his signature and also no wonder why so many Republicans voted for the bill within the legislature, there is nothing for them to lose by doing so.
The one time Douglas does something in the public interest, even if it’s out of pure, dumb luck, or because he wanted to avoid a fight, we can live with a little whining.
that this is even a problem.
Instead of setting up our social fabric to accommodate eternal wars, we could be protecting the service members’ right to access the polls by having them back in the US where they belong.
The economy, election laws, school access, medical care, educational grants … all tied to the eternal war machine.
The chickenhawks know how to keep just the right distance, close enough to make sure the wars happen, but far enough away to stay clear of the destruction.