Bennington 1 race clouded after dozens received wrong ballots; recount and court papers highlight procedural gaps

A petitioner in the Bennington 1 state representative race told the Vermont House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee that ballots meant for Bennington District 1 were distributed to voters in neighboring District 5, a mistake he says affected about 55 voters and could change the outcome of a close race.

Bruce Busa, who was a write-in candidate on the November ballot, told the committee he learned after the election that voters on several roads were placed on the District 5 checklist and therefore received the wrong ballot. "I hereby request the panel board of civil authority meet ... to determine the boundary of Bennington District 1 according to Vermont election law," Busa said while summarizing the email he sent to the local Board of Civil Authority after discovering the discrepancy.

The nut graff: The issue matters because the margin in the race was small and a group of voters who received the wrong ballots — and voters who may have been placed on the wrong checklist — could change the outcome. Committee testimony and documents posted by Busa show a sequence of a recount request, a recommendation from the Secretary of State's office for a district-wide revote, a later court ruling that the Superior Court could not order a revote, and concerns raised during the recount about counting procedures and record-keeping.

What happened, according to testimony and the packet of documents Busa provided to the committee

- Discovery and initial steps: Busa said he was alerted shortly after the election when a constituent reported his name did not appear on a mailed ballot. At the town clerk's office Busa read the statutory boundary language aloud and said the clerk realized many voters had been assigned to District 5 rather than District 1. Busa said the clerk estimated about 70 affected voters, and later Busa and the clerk narrowed that to about 55 people who may have received the wrong ballot.

- Recount request and court filings: Busa said he filed for a recount on Nov. 8; his attorney later filed to convert the recount petition to a request for a revote. An email Busa submitted from the Secretary of State's office (dated Nov. 9 in the packet) recommended a district-wide revote. Busa told the committee the judge later wrote (court document dated Nov. 14 in the packet) that the Superior Court lacked jurisdiction to order a revote and directed that any contest or question about the election outcome should be resolved by petitioning the Vermont House of Representatives.

- Recount results and numeric discrepancies: The recount materials Busa cited show differences between the number of voters checked on the voter-entry checklist and the number of ballots tallied in the contest. In the documents Busa discussed, the checklist line total appeared as 1,333; the tabulator count for the contest showed 1,327. Busa said the recount uncovered six defective ballots and an arithmetic correction later reduced an apparent unexplained gain. Busa said he calculated that if the roughly 55 voters who received the wrong ballot were polled with the correct ballot, the race could be a one-vote margin or a tie.

- Ballot handling and chain-of-custody concerns: During the recount, Busa said he observed Bennington 5 ballots (with a purple banner) in the Bennington 1 bag and reported he had seen some Bennington 5 ballots in the Bennington 1 bag. He also said the Bennington 5 ballot bag was not on-site for the recount, so the committee of review could not confirm whether white Bennington 1 ballots were in the Bennington 5 bag. Busa told the committee the recount process included periods when ballots were stacked and left waiting before being run through a tabulator, and he recommended hand counts prior to tabulation to reduce errors.

- Board of Civil Authority (BCA) duties and training: Busa argued the root cause was overreliance on a single town clerk and insufficient involvement or training of the Board of Civil Authority. He cited a statutory training requirement for BCAs (17 V.S.A. § 2457(c)(2) in his packet) and told the committee he had not received or observed the required BCA training in 2023–24. Busa said Secretary of State staff told him the office had focused on clerk training given many new clerks and had not provided the same level of training for BCAs.

What officials and documents said in the hearing

- Secretary of State recommendation and court direction: Busa provided an email from an election lawyer in the Secretary of State's office recommending a district-wide revote to address the scope of the error; the Superior Court document in the packet states the court lacked authority to order a revote and instructed that the remedy for contested elections is through the Vermont House.

- Recount logistics and numeric review: Busa pointed the committee to recount worksheets and a court-provided summary showing the points of discrepancy and the corrections made after the clerk reviewed the arithmetic. He asked the committee to consider requiring additional checklist and ballot-count cross-checks during recounts, and to consider recording interim hand-count totals rather than relying solely on tabulator output at the end of a sealed bag.

Committee process and next steps

Committee members said the hearing would continue after lunch to review what Busa called the "panel 55" — the list of roughly 55 voters who received the wrong ballot — and to examine undeliverable returned mail ballots that may relate to the same group. No formal vote or committee action was recorded in the transcript excerpt; Busa and members agreed to reconvene after the break and continue testimony and document review.

Quote attribution and caution

Busa repeatedly framed his testimony as a request for fact-finding and remediation to ensure every eligible voter in the district has their vote counted; he said, "I come to you in the name of the people ... and the creator of our inalienable rights, among which is our right to vote," language he used when introducing himself to the committee. The Superior Court documents and Secretary of State email cited in Busa's packet were provided to the committee as exhibits; committee staff acknowledged posting those exhibits to the committee web page during the hearing.

Why this matters locally

If the numbers Busa and the recount materials describe are correct, polling the affected voters or ordering a remedy could change who is certified as the winner of the state representative seat. The episode also raises questions about how BCAs and clerks execute boundary instructions, whether training and cross-checks are adequate, and what procedures should govern hand counts, tabulator use, and ballot bag handling to prevent similar errors.

What is not resolved in the hearing excerpt

The transcript excerpt does not record a final committee decision, a formal petition filed to the Vermont House by Busa after the court direction, or the full, verified list of the 55 voters Busa described. Committee members and Busa said those items and the detailed packet would be reviewed when the hearing resumed after the lunch break. The committee also did not record testimony from the town clerk(s) or the Secretary of State office personnel in the excerpt provided.

Ending

Members of the Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee said they would reconvene after recess to review the remaining exhibits, the list of affected voters, and further testimony. The transcript excerpt ends with the committee breaking for an hour and planning to resume the hearing at 1 p.m.