Attorney General report: 56 voters received wrong Bennington‑1 ballots, exceeding 23‑vote margin

Assistant Attorney General Leslie Waltz told the House Committee on Government Operations & Military Affairs that her office’s report found 56 registered voters in the Bennington‑1 House District were sent Bennington‑5 ballots and therefore “were unable to properly cast a vote” in the Bennington‑1 race.

The report — produced after four requests to the secretary of state and reviewed at a committee hearing — concluded the difference between the certified result and the number of affected voters matters because the certified margin of victory was 23 votes, smaller than the 56 potentially disenfranchised voters. The requests to the secretary of state asked, in various forms, for a revote or for remedies limited to the affected voters.

Nut graf: The attorney general’s report summarizes how a post‑2020 reapportionment and a data‑entry problem in the state voter checklist led to 56 voters being placed on the wrong district checklist. Requesters including the candidate Bruce Busa, a petition group labeled “Panel 45,” and two local boards of civil authority asked for remedies ranging from issuing correct ballots to a district‑wide revote. The report does not itself order a remedy; it documents the facts, the statutory framework and the options for the committee and the secretary of…