Court Opinion

ID: 9522016
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:16:53.619594+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:02:12.965756
License: Public Domain

*529Reiber, C.J.,
¶ 33. concurring. I acknowledge that the permissive federal constitutional standard applied to nondiscriminatory ballot-access regulations compels the outcome we have reached in this case. I write, however, to emphasize the common-sense observation that the advanced deadline for independent-candidate registration serves mainly to deprive Vermonters of potential choices at the ballot box. It goes almost without saying that a lot can change in the months and weeks leading up to an election. An early deadline will prevent or discourage from running otherwise qualified contenders whose candidacy arises in direct response to those changing circumstances, limiting the range of options available to Vermont citizens. That the earlier deadline accomplishes this reduction in choice with a nearly imperceptible benefit is added cause for concern.
¶ 34. I note also that I share my colleagues’ dismay at plaintiffs’ failure to adequately brief their claims under the Vermont Constitution. It is rapidly approaching three decades since we first clearly called the bar’s attention to the importance of our state charter as an independent and unique source of individual and collective rights. See State v. Jewett, 146 Vt. 221, 223, 500 A.2d 233, 235 (1985). Plaintiffs might well have found a standard in the Vermont Constitution requiring more demanding scrutiny of election regulations.
¶ 35. I am authorized to state that Judge Cohen joins this concurrence.