Because the President of the United States has questioned the integrity of our electoral system and hinted that he may not accept the outcome of our Nov. 3 election, the Middlebury Friends Meeting wishes to state publicly that we believe in that system, which is  vital to our democracy. We have absolute confidence that the Vermont Secretary of State, Vermont town and city clerks, and boards of civil authority throughout Vermont will carry out their duties in a trustworthy manner. Indeed, Vermont can be seen as an example to the rest of the nation of how a democracy should function. We encourage other congregations, organizations, and individuals to join us in issuing this challenge.
Given that the right of citizens to choose their own leaders is a bedrock principle of democracy and that fairly administered elections are the mechanism to achieve this ideal, we call upon our elected leaders and candidates for leadership positions to take the following pledge:
– to work to ensure equal and convenient access by all citizens to the right to vote;
– to insist on the counting of all lawful ballots in a timely, secure, and transparent manner;
– to refrain from declaring a final election result until all such ballots have been counted;
– to take all measures available to them to contest any declared results that do not include the counting of all lawful votes;
– to support the right of the people to demonstrate peaceably in favor of all votes being counted, both in Vermont and across the country;
– to insist on a peaceful transfer of power if a complete and legal vote count requires it.
We further call upon our leaders to make public this pledge and to encourage their peers (across the nation) to take the same pledge.
For more information and trainings by George Lakey contact choosedemocracy.us, or head online to protecttheresults.com, which is supporting action nationwide.
Jean Rosenberg and Joe Garren, co-clerks on behalf of
Middlebury Friends Meeting—Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)