15. Letter to a legislator

Here is part of an all too long e-mail I sent to a member of the Gov. Ops committee.


I learned recently that South Burlington and some other Vermont municipalities have denied citizens access to local ballots for advisory articles. We are currently in litigation to address this inequity. If enacted, H.709 would nullify our efforts.

I now understand how important it can be for citizens to have the right to place an advisory article on the ballot. I found that 5% of the list of registered voters in a town like South Burlington is much more significant than it seems. To increase the number of signatures needed would virtually make it impossible for citizens to place an advisory article on the ballot.

Some would say this is a good thing. However it would make the ballot easily accessible to those who are favored by select boards and unavailable to those who are not. This is undemocratic and unfair.

This winter a small organization in Vermont worked very hard and got the legal number of signatures to place an advisory article on ballots in 40 towns. Some of these towns have turned down the article. On the other hand VLCT has placed an article on ballots in 120 communities without getting a single signature on a single petition.

As Vermont citizens we deserve a reasonable way to weigh in on statewide issues that are very important to us.