It seems each week, the White House targets free and fair elections with pressure to pass the SAVE Act. We should all reach out to our Congressional delegation, Vermont Attorney General, Charity Clark, and Vermont Secretary of State, Sarah Copeland Hanzas, to encourage and thank them for their efforts to protect election integrity. While we rely on our elected representatives, attacks on the integrity of elections will continue and create doubt in the outcomes of this year’s elections and, looking ahead, in 2028.
Beyond keeping in touch with our representatives and speaking out in our communities, there is another important way to protect the integrity and confidence in the midterm and presidential elections – you can run for justice of the peace this November.
Consider this meaningful way to serve your town. The justice of the peace is a member of a town’s Board of Civil Authority (BCA). Meetings of the BCA are infrequent and as needed.
Responsibilities include:
- Serve as an election official at town elections and statewide elections
- Work at the polls, sharing the duty to ensure tabulated voting records are auditable,
- Be trained in the Dominion Voting System that preserves a paper trail, and the ways it is firewalled from outside interference. This work goes beyond providing a good election experience for voters, demonstrating that election officials care deeply and work hard to assure the integrity of free and fair elections with friends and family around the country.
- Oversee voter challenges and clean up voter rolls to account for people who no longer live here.
- Participate in tax abatement and appeals processes
- Officiate at weddings
July and November may seem far away, but the democracy threatening SAVE Act and White House executive orders call us to action now. If you value free and fair elections, consider running to begin the investment that can pay off big time in November 2026 and November 2028.
Please contact your Democratic Town Committee chair or town clerk now to let them know you want to be a candidate. Town committees will be meeting to develop a slate of candidates between now and July 20.
The VT Justice of the Peace guide is available on the Vermont.gov website: (https://outside.vermont.gov/dept/sos/Elections_Division/town_clerks_local_elections/vermont_justice_peace_guide.pdf)
Senterfitt lives in Waitsfield
