MONTPELIER — Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos recently issued the following statement in response to continued assertions by President Trump that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in the November elections:
As the chief state election official for the state of Vermont, I am fiercely proud of the work that Vermont’s town clerks and local elections officials do to ensure the integrity of our elections.
Voting is a Constitutional right at the very core of our democracy.
Vermonters should know that their votes count and Vermont’s elections are fair and accurate.
Voters have every right to expect accountability in their elections process, but unsubstantiated voter fraud claims undermine our democracy and disparage the hundreds of thousands of hard-working election officials across our great nation.
It is disappointing that the President of the United States would cast doubt through unproven falsehoods. It is hard to believe the President does not have the information in his hands to make an informed judgment about the non-existence of voter fraud by the millions.
My larger concern is that these baseless statements are intended to set the stage for attempts from Washington, D.C., to roll back voting rights by imposing unnecessary restrictions on that Constitutional right. Such attempts by states are being overturned by court after court as discriminatory and based in partisan politics.
Those of us who administer elections for a living are well aware that study after study has shown that widespread voter fraud is a myth.
True voter fraud is denying an otherwise eligible American from their constitutional right to participate in their democracy.
Any investigation initiated must be conducted in an open, fair and nonpartisan way.