Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 17 Sec. 2732

  • Accept: means to solicit, receive, or agree to receive. See
  • Candidate: means an individual who has taken any affirmative action to become a candidate for public office. See
  • Election: means the procedure whereby the voters of this State, or any of its political subdivisions, select persons to fill public offices or act on public questions. See
  • following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
  • Person: means any individual, business entity, labor organization, public interest group, or other organization, incorporated or unincorporated. See
  • Political party: is a ny group of individuals that has organized and filed its certificate of organization with the Secretary of State, pursuant to chapter 45 of this title. See
  • Secretary: means the Secretary of State. See
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See

§ 2732. Meeting of electors

(a) The electors shall meet at the State House on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December next following their election to vote for the President and Vice President of the United States, agreeably to the laws of the United States.

(b)(1) If there is a vacancy in the electoral college on that day, occasioned by death, refusal to act, neglect to attend, failure of a person elected to qualify, or for other cause, the other electors present shall at once fill such vacancy viva voce and by a plurality of votes.

(2) When all the electors appear or a vacancy therein is filled, the electors shall perform the duties required of them by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

(3) If a vacancy occurs and is filled as aforesaid, the electors shall attach to the certificate of their votes a statement showing how such a vacancy occurred and their action thereon.

(c)(1) Each elector shall vote for the candidates for President and Vice President who were nominated by the same political party or organization that nominated the elector or for the legal successor who has replaced that candidate for President and Vice President due to the candidate’s death, resignation, or disqualification.

(2) Each elector shall present the elector’s completed ballots to the Secretary of State, who shall examine them.

(3)(A) The Secretary of State shall accept and count the ballots of an elector who has voted for the candidates for President and Vice President required under subdivision (1) of this subsection (c).

(B) The Secretary of State shall not accept and shall not count an elector’s ballots if the elector has not marked both ballots or has marked one ballot in violation of subdivision (1) of this subsection (c).

(4) If an elector refuses to present a ballot, presents an unmarked ballot, or presents a ballot marked in violation of subdivision (1) of this subsection (c), then the elector’s office is vacated, the Secretary of State shall declare the creation of the vacancy, and the vacancy shall be filled as set forth in subsection (b) of this section. (Added 1979, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 6, 1980; amended 2021, No. 123 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. July 1, 2022.)