Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos (D) is hoping to make universal vote-by-mail a permanent fixture in the Green Mountain State, he announced on Wednesday.
The state leader is actively supporting state lawmakers in their efforts to make universal vote-by-mail the new normal in the state following the 2020 presidential election, in which the state sent ballots to every registered voter.
On a call hosted by the National Vote At Home Institute, Condos stated that officials are “working to make universal ballot mailing permanent.”
“Our experience in Vermont has clearly shown that voting by mail is safe, secure, and accessible,” Condos said in a statement to the Hill. “Our democracy is stronger when we all participate.”
“I will continue to work with the Vermont Legislature to make permanent changes to Vermont’s election law that ensure every eligible, active Vermont voter is mailed a ballot so that they can exercise whichever accessible voting option they choose,” he pledged.
While Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, did not support last year’s measure making universal mail-in voting a temporary reality, he “allowed it to become law without his signature, and state Republicans unsuccessfully sued to overturn the law,” as the Hill reported.
Condos is far from the only Democrat official vying to make universal vote-by-mail a permanent staple of U.S. elections. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced a bill last week to expand “Oregon-style” mail-in voting nationwide. The measure would “massively expand vote-at-home ballot access” and introduce automatic voter registration.
Freshman Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) has also called on congressional Democrats to take decisive action in the form of the “For The People Act,” in which progressive lawmakers conclude that “States and localities have eroded access to the right to vote through restrictions on the right to vote including excessively onerous voter identification requirements, burdensome voter registration procedures, voter purges, limited and unequal access to voting by mail, polling place closures, unequal distribution of election resources, and other impediments.”
The bill would automatically have ballots sent to registered voters and prevent states from having basic photo-ID requirements, among other changes including preventing states from requiring applicants to provide more than the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) warned that an election law overhaul remains one of the left’s top legislative priorities.
“It’s a tradition that a new House majority reserves its top priority for what they call H.R. 1 — House Resolution number one — the very first bill that’s introduced,” Cotton explained during a December appearance on Breitbart News Daily.
“H.R. 1, under Nancy Pelosi, was a radical election law bill that would have mandated universal mail-out balloting in every state of the union. It would have required states to permit ballot harvesting,” he continued. “It wouldn’t have only prohibited photo identification — which [is] needful — it would have prohibited even signature verification.”