Committee reviews H.474 amendment to list late write‑in candidates; clerks and Secretary of State caution on 7 p.m. deadline

The House Committee on Government Operations & Military Affairs reviewed draft 1.2 of an amendment to H.474 that would require write‑in candidates for General Assembly, state and federal offices to file a form by 7 p.m. on primary election day in order for their write‑in votes to be recorded with the candidate’s name rather than as “other write‑ins.” The committee heard testimony from municipal clerks, the Secretary of State’s office and legislative counsel about logistical challenges and related campaign‑finance and petition changes in the amendment.

The amendment would strike sections 2 and 3 of the introduced bill and replace section 9 with new language that (1) moves the filing deadline for write‑in candidates to 7 p.m. on primary day, (2) allows a filer to submit the Secretary of State’s form either to all town clerks in the district or electronically to the Secretary of State, and (3) directs clerks to list by name only write‑in candidates who have filed in accordance with the statute; write‑in votes for non‑filers would be recorded as “other write‑ins.” The proposal repeats the change for multiple statutory sections so it applies across presidential, statewide and primary contests.

Why it matters: Clerks said pre‑registering write‑in candidates helps ballot counters recognize variant names, avoid missed votes and reduce hours of manual counting after polls close. Hillary Francis, Brattleboro Town Clerk and a member of the Vermont Municipal Clerks and Treasurers Association legislative committee, told the committee that "If ballot counters were provided with a list of write in candidates, they would be…