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Disability advocates urge committee to protect mail‑in voting, add disability to S.298 and restore private right of action
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Summary
Multiple witnesses from Rev Up Vermont and allied organizations told the Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee that S.298 must explicitly add people with disabilities as a protected class, restore a private right of action, and enshrine protections for mail‑in voting; they recounted barriers disabled Vermonters face and asked the committee to avoid regressive changes.
Maria Rinaldi of Rev Up Vermont and the American Association of People with Disabilities' Vermont chapter told the committee Friday that current systems and rhetoric at the federal level threaten the voting access that many disabled Vermonters rely on. "S.298 must be Vermont's firewall," Rinaldi said, urging the committee to restore a private right of action, codify universal mail‑in ballots and explicitly add disability to the bill's protected classes so protections do not depend on federal law.
Alicia Weiss, chair of Plainfield's accessibility advisory committee and a member of Rev Up Vermont's leadership team, told the panel enumerating disability in section 2801 is consistent with other Vermont statutes and would not undermine existing federal or state protections. Weiss recommended reinstating the senate language granting a private right of action so individuals have a remedy if their voting rights are violated.
Kate LaRose (Vermont Center for Independent Living; Rev Up Vermont volunteer) offered detailed lived experiences, describing repeated denials of access to municipal meetings and town elections and citing data she said show Vermont ranks poorly on disability access in voting. LaRose said hybrid participation and mail‑in ballots have been essential for many, and she asked the committee to keep those protections in place and restore private enforcement mechanisms.
Sean Shan, elections director in the Secretary of State's Office, thanked the advocates and said his office "is fully supportive" of improving accessibility: Vermont already provides no‑excuse absentee voting, accessible machines purchased with Help America Vote Act funds are available statewide, and services such as justice‑of‑the‑peace home ballot delivery exist for voters who are ill or homebound. Shan described an accessibility task force and working groups focused on outreach and training for clerks and voters to maximize use of available resources.
Why it matters: Advocates said enumerating disability and preserving mail‑in voting, alongside a private right of action, are safeguards that would protect Vermont voters if federal courts or legislation reduce national protections. Committee members asked questions about clerk support and how the Secretary of State's Office will ensure timely responses to clerks during election crunch periods.
Next steps: The committee paused for lunch and expected to hear the attorney general's office after the break to clarify enforcement and investigative language in the draft bill.
