A grassroots, ostensibly nonpartisan, Open Letter to Governor Scott asks that he encourage “all governors to uphold our right to elect our leaders by popular vote.”
The campaign, organized by Montpelier resident Dana Dwinell-Yardley and Marisa D. Keller, a Brattleboro resident currently living in Montpelier, was promoted online and drew support from a broad cross section of Vermonters with more than 960 signatures.
The letter was delivered to the governor following a presentation on the porch of the Pavilion Building at noon on Monday. The focus of the letter is the apparent attempts in several states to suppress voter participation in the November 3 election — and the unfounded allegations of voter fraud coming from the White House.
Although they have not received a direct reply from the governor, Dwinell-Yardley said Thursday, “We heard from Brittany Wilson, the governor’s Secretary of Civil & Military Affairs, who outlined a number of steps the administration is taking to protect elections in Vermont. She did not address our ask for Governor Scott to call on his fellow Republican governors, however. We thanked her for her reply and for the governor’s commitment to protecting elections in Vermont and asked when the governor would be using his connections to other governors to defend democracy in the rest of the country. We haven’t heard back yet.”
The letter says, in part:
“Here in Vermont, we trust that we will be able to vote and that our votes will be counted. But we are deeply concerned about threats to the voting process elsewhere, especially in other states with Republican governors.
Governor Scott, we need you to be a model for the Republican Party. We call on you to:
1. make a public statement against voter suppression tactics
2. affirm your commitment to making sure every vote is counted
3. call on your fellow Republican governors to follow Vermont’s lead in safeguarding democracy in these unstable times.
You have the platform and the connections to help ensure free and fair elections across the United States. Please use your power to protect our democracy.”
The online form for signing the letter is still available:
http://tinyurl.com/ScottLetter2020
The event was live-streamed and can be viewed online:
https://www.facebook.com/danadwya/videos/10157473742145776/
UNDERWRITING SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
