On the eve of the Legislature’s vote to decide who will be the next governor, lawmakers and advocates are calling for a constitutional amendment that would return the decision to the voters. Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, was joined Wednesday morning just before the start of the 2015 legislative session by Sens. Anthony Pollina, D/P-Washington, Bill Doyle, R-Washington, and Jeanette White, D-Windham, to promote a change to the state’s constitution that would eliminate the mechanism that allows the Legislature to choose the governor. “From VPIRG’s perspective, the concept is pretty simple. The voters of Vermont should be the ones who decide who our governor and other top elected leaders will be,” Burns said. “This year’s election has only provided more evidence that we need a constitutional amendment now. It’s fair, it’s democratic and it’s time.”
Calling it a “separation of powers issue,” Doyle said he has drafted an amendment that would lower the threshold for the election of governor by popular vote from 50 percent to 40 percent.
“There is a separation of powers in our constitution and it seems odd that the legislature gets to choose the governor,” said Doyle, who noted his proposal is not based on the events that have led to today’s election.
Full Article: Calls grow for elections amendment : Times Argus Online.