Senate committee reviews broad election-law package; debates audits, ballot order, registration and candidate name rules

The Vermont Senate Committee on Government Operations on May 2 reviewed draft 2.2 of H.474, an omnibus bill proposing numerous changes to state election law, and heard testimony from municipal clerks and election observers on contentious provisions including post‑election audit selection, ballot name order, automatic voter registration, and rules about candidate names and nicknames.

Chelsea McGuire, town clerk in Orange and chair of the legislative committee of the Municipal Clerks Association, summarized a clerk survey and practical concerns. McGuire said nearly two‑thirds of clerks who responded expressed negative views about ranked‑choice voting: "It's a pretty high number. Close to 65% of our clerks feel either very or somewhat negative about ranked choice voting in general," she said, and added that about 38% of clerks favored a study or report from the Secretary of State’s office to explore the issue.

Committee members walked through the bill’s highlighted changes. Staff said the draft received that day is 37 pages (draft 2.2) and that many edits appear in highlighted text. Among the…