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1 S.283
2 Introduced by Senators Wrenner, Collamore, Harrison, Ingalls, Kitchel,
3 Perchlik, Starr, Weeks and Williams
4 Referred to Committee on
5 Date:
6 Subject: Education; unified union school districts; voting; commingling
7 Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to create an
8 exception to the requirement that unified union school district votes cast by
9 Australian ballot be commingled. The exception would exempt a unified
10 union school district from this requirement if voters considered and rejected
11 the requirement to commingle such votes and the articles are silent on the
12 method of counting Australian ballots.
13 An act relating to the decision to commingle Australian ballots in unified
14 union school district voting
15 It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:
16 Sec. 1. 16 V.S.A. § 742 is amended to read:
17 § 742. COMMINGLING AND REPORTING OF ALL VOTES CAST BY
18 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT AND FROM THE FLOOR
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1 (a) Commingling. Votes cast by the voters of a unified union school
2 district shall be commingled, whether cast by Australian ballot or from the
3 floor, and shall not be counted according to the town in which a voter resides.
4 ***
5 (c) Applicability. The commingling and reporting of votes cast by voters
6 in a unified union school district for the election of members of the district
7 board, for the election of district officers, for proposed budgets, and for any
8 other public question shall proceed pursuant to the provisions of this section
9 regardless of whether the vote proceeds by Australian ballot or by a floor vote,
10 except when:
11 (1) Vermont statute explicitly permits or requires a different method for
12 a specific type of question presented to the voters;
13 (2) the ballots have been cast to elect a unified union school district
14 board member where membership on the board is apportioned based on town
15 population pursuant to subdivision 730(a)(1) (unified union school district;
16 Australian ballot; proportional to town population) of this chapter; or
17 (3) the articles of agreement as initially approved by the voters on or
18 before July 1, 2019 explicitly provide that the board of civil authority of each
19 town within the unified union school district shall count Australian ballots cast
20 in that town and report that town’s results to the district clerk, who shall VT LEG #372463 v.3
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1 calculate total votes cast within the unified union school district and report the
2 result of the vote to the public; or
3 (4) the commingling of votes cast by Australian ballot was expressly
4 considered and rejected by the voters at an annual meeting held on or before
5 July 1, 2019, and the articles of agreement are silent on the method of counting
6 Australian ballots.
7 Sec. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE
8 This act shall take effect on July 1, 2024.
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Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 16-742