PRESS: Recount confirms Cooper victory in House race
By Jim Therrien, Bennington Banner correspondent
BENNINGTON – A recount in the Bennington-1 House race apparently has confirmed a victory by Democrat Jonathan Cooper of Pownal over Republican Bruce Busa of Readsboro.
But the race might be headed into overtime – possibly before the Vermont House.
After a hearing Monday at Bennington County Courthouse on South Street, Judge David Barra issued a written decision that affirmed Cooper as the victor by 23 votes in the November 5 election.
Based on a recount held November 18-19 in the courtroom, the judge certified there were 1,265 votes for Cooper and 1,242 for Busa, as well as 104 ballots left blank in the Bennington-1 House race and five write-in votes for others.
“The successful candidate therefore is Jonathan Cooper,” Barra wrote.
The House seat represents part of Pownal and Woodford, Stamford, Readsboro and Searsburg.
Voter checklist
The judge noted that the hearing and decision Monday marks the end of the recount process, but other voting issues could continue in the matter, referring to Busa’s request for the Vermont House to become involved.
Busa on Friday filed a request with the Secretary of State’s Office to have the Vermont House decide the race, based primarily on more than 40 Pownal voters who were listed incorrectly on the town voter checklist as living in the wrong House district.
Those voters were listed in the Bennington-5, which includes the northeast corner of Pownal, and they were given the wrong ballot on election day.
Busa had asked Barra to schedule a revote of the race in Pownal only, but the judge denied that request. The judge referred in his decision to a 1983 Vermont Supreme Court determination that the Vermont House has the final authority under the state constitution to determine the election and qualification of its members.
“I am requesting the House of Representatives to exercise its constitutional authority to judge the election,” Busa wrote Friday in his request, citing errors in the Pownal voter checklist that resulted in more than 40 voters receiving Bennington-5 House race ballots on election day.
The errors apparently followed a 2022 statewide redistricting process to account for population shifts in Vermont after the 2000 federal Census. Previously, the Bennington-1 district consisted of Pownal and Woodford.
Busa also sought a recount of his 2022 race against incumbent Rep. Nelson Brownell, D-Pownal, who defeated Busa that year by 20 votes following that recount.
Officials with the Secretary of State’s Office could not be reached Monday for comment on Busa’s request for involvement by the Legislature.
https://www.benningtonbanner.com/local-news/recount-confirms-cooper-victory-in-house-race/article_06fc0b22-ab7e-11ef-a399-a3bafb2e657f.html
