Source: http://vt.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20130329_0000021.VT.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2020-06-01 06:20:37
Document Index: 716998184

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1973', '§ 1', '§ 2351', '§ 2356', '§1', '§ 2402', '§ 2402', '§ 4']

FindACase™ | Gerald Trudell and Myron Dorfman v. State of Vermont and Deborah Markowitz
Gerald Trudell and Myron Dorfman v. State of Vermont and Deborah Markowitz
STATE OF VERMONT AND DEBORAH MARKOWITZ, SECRETARY OF STATE
On Appeal from Superior Court, Washington Unit, Civil Division September Term, 2012 Geoffrey W. Crawford, J.
PRESENT: Reiber, C.J., Skoglund and Burgess, JJ., and Cohen and Eaton, Supr. JJ., Specially Assigned
¶ 1. Independent candidate Gary Trudell and voter Myron Dorfman challenge the constitutionality of Vermont's schedule for filing candidate petitions, alleging that the uniform deadline for all party (major and minor) and independent candidates is discriminatory and impermissibly impinges upon the associational and voting rights of candidates and voters under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Because we conclude that the filing deadline is a reasonable, nondiscriminatory regulation, justified by Vermont's regulatory interests, we affirm the decision of the lower court in declaring the deadline constitutional.
¶ 2. In 2009, Congress enacted the Military Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act to address reports that U.S. troops stationed overseas had difficulties voting by absentee ballot. See 42 U.S.C. § 1973ff-1(a)(8)(A). The Act imposed fixed deadlines by which states had to prepare their ballots. For general elections, ballots are required to be completed 45 days in advance of the election. Id. Vermont previously held primary elections relatively late in the electoral cycle on the second Tuesday in September. To comply with the requirements of the MOVE Act, Vermont enacted Act 73. 2009, No. 73 (Adj. Sess.), § 1. Section 1 of Act 73 moved Vermont's primary election date to the fourth Tuesday in August--theoretically the latest possible date by which the Secretary of State could receive the primary results from the towns, complete the canvas process, prepare the ballot styles, and receive the general election ballots back from the printers in time to meet the 45-day federal deadline. 17 V.S.A. § 2351 (setting primary date to comply with MOVE Act). Because of the new primary election date, the Legislature moved the deadline for primary registration to mid-June. Id. § 2356 ("not later than 5:00 p.m. on the second Thursday after the first Monday in June").
¶ 3. The Legislature enacted an additional change: the Legislature moved the date by which independent candidates were required to file their statements of nomination to run in the general election so as to make that deadline coincide with the deadline by which party candidates were required to file their primary petitions. Compare 2009, No. 73 (Adj. Sess.), §1(codified at 17 V.S.A. § 2402(d)), with 17 V.S.A. § 2402(d) (prior to amendment). Independent candidates were previously permitted to file nominating petitions up to three days after the primary election. The Director of Elections testified that a change was required to comply with the MOVE Act but believed that the Thursday before the primary (two working days plus the intervening weekend) would provide adequate time to review the independents' petitions and identify all candidates, including those running on multiple tickets.
¶ 5. Plaintiff Gerald Trudell has a longstanding interest in politics and the environment. To bring attention to environmental issues, Trudell first ran for Vermont's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006, claiming 1000 votes. He ran again in 2008 and acquired 10,000 votes. In 2010, Trudell decided to run again, two days before the newly-implemented June deadline but was unable to collect the requisite signatures for registration. In late August, he filed a petition anyway but was denied a place on the ballot due to his delinquency. He ran instead as a write-in candidate.
¶ 7. It is beyond cavil that the "rights of qualified voters to cast votes effectively and the rights of individuals to associate for political purposes are of the most fundamental significance under our constitutional structure." Council of Alt. Political Parties v. Hooks, 179 F.3d 64, 70 (3rd Cir. 1999) (quotations omitted); see also Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780, 787 (1983). The right to vote in any manner and the right to associate for political purposes, however, is not absolute. Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U.S. 428, 433 (1992). Article I of the U.S. Constitution provides that states may impose reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on voting, and thus, courts have recognized that states retain the power to regulate their own elections. See U.S. Const. art. I, § 4, cl. 1; Sugarman v. Dougall, 413 U.S. 634, 647 (1973). Common sense, as well as constitutional law, compels the conclusion that government must play an active role in structuring elections, and there must be a substantial regulation of elections if they are to be fair and honest. See, e.g., Storer v. Brown, 415 U.S. 724, 730 (1974).
A court considering a challenge to a state election law must weigh "the character and magnitude of the asserted injury to the rights protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments that the plaintiff seeks to vindicate" against the "precise interests put forward by the State as justifications for the burden imposed by its rule," taking into ...