The recount is done! The numbers in the Progressive Party’s gubernatorial primary have all been retabulated by Vermont’s 14 county clerks. They’ve been sent to the Washington County Clerk’s office.
So now we find out who won, right? ……well, no.
Not until next week. Maybe Monday, and Tuesday for sure. Almost.
As you may recall, the final official tally was Party Chair Martha Abbott 371, write-in Annette Smith 370. Smith then filed for a recount. Under state law, recounts are overseen by the court system, not the Secretary of State’s office. The fourteen county clerks do the recount and send the totals to the clerk in the county where the petition was filed — Washington County. She then adds up all the totals and submits the whole thing to a judge for approval.
And now you’re dealing with courtroom time. As it happens, the judge is working in another jurisdiction today. He’ll be in on Monday, but his docket is already pretty full. So a hearing on the Prog recount is set for Tuesday morning at 9. The judge will have all the information on his desk Monday morning, and may decide to expedite the matter; but he’s more likely to wait for the scheduled hearing.
Secretary of State Jim Condos says that, in his opinion, the unofficial results could be released right now. But the court system works in mysterious ways.
Washington County Clerk Elizabeth Battey says she can release the figures for her county, but not the other 13. Apparently some reporters are calling around the state, trying to get all 14 county totals, so while we won’t get the Last Word until next week, we might get the Penultimate Word sometime sooner.
Seven Days’ Paul Heintz reports that “Annette Smith picked up 11 votes in Rutland County and somehow lost 51 votes in Orleans County. Seems the latter discrepancy stems from a transcription error coming out of Westfield.” If true, then Smith is at a distinct disadvantage.
We can only hope that this mess could generate some momentum for election reform. “We’ll go to the Legislature and say, ‘You’ve got to help us with this,” Condos told GMD. For him, there are two major areas in need of change:
— The timing of the primary. A late-August primary puts Vermont uncomfortably close to federal deadlines meant to ensure that overseas military personnel are given every opportunity to vote. Condos would really like to see an earlier date for future primaries.
— A system that’s “still old-fashioned and human-intensive,” according to Condos. Many communities are still counting votes by hand. There’s a multi-step process for reporting election results. Errors can be made at any step. A simpler process using widely-available technology could greatly reduce the chance of an error in counting or reporting. But hey, this is Vermont, and we don’t like to change stuff.
Stay tuned.
As the town clerk of Westfield, I would like to state that you posted there was a transcription error in Westfield.
Check your facts before you post anything.
We had a total of 68 votes. Annette Smith received a total of 5 votes.
When I heard about your notice, I went to the office and checked the report I sent to the State and the county clerk’s office. My figures are accurate. Your report is not.
Connie LaPlume
Certified Town Clerk
Westfield, VT. 05874
don’t blame HuffPo
Paul Heintz’s report was not accurate based on what I know. My counters reported that I picked up 6 votes in Rutland County, 2 votes in Chittenden County and 4 votes in Washington County. I have heard I picked up votes elsewhere and that Martha picked up some votes but I have no confirmation of that. I also have no confirmation about the error in Westfield, and want to know if it was an error of the town clerk or the Secretary of State’s office. It sounds like it was reported correctly from Westfield to the SOS office, but I don’t know specifically how the error occurred and we all need to know that.
One of the positive outcomes of the recount is that people in counties who wrote in Annette Smith now have seen their votes counted. Had the Westfield error been found on election night or before the votes were certified, it would have made it impossible for the write-in to request a recount, and then those people who know their votes were not counted would have had to petition the court, and it is not clear that those votes would ever have been counted.
This whole process has exposed numerous issues with our election process, from conflicting language on the ballots and statute about coloring in the oval to handwritten reports that were misinterpreted, transmission errors using fax (I put my fax machine up in the attack more than a year ago, who can’t scan these days?), and the recount has exposed a poor process with a lack of proper guidance to county clerks. Counters spent a lot of time sitting around waiting, two towns sent bags from the wrong election in two counties, one clerk would only allow one town’s bag to be opened at a time while other county clerks had tables each with their own town bags, which made the process go much faster.
Overall, not only was the initial election result wrong, but I don’t have much faith in the recount either, because of poor instructions to counters in more than one county. There is a lot to improve so that Vermonters can have confidence in their election results.
The ruling from Washington County Superior Court Judge Robert Bent is Abbot 381, Smith 340.