MONTPELIER – A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that had challenged the Capital City's charter change allowing non-citizens to vote in municipal elections.
In September, the Vermont Republican Party and the Republican National Committee, as well as Montpelier residents Charles Ferry and Maurice Martineau, sued the city and City Clerk John Odum. The lawsuit claimed allowing non-United States citizens to vote on Town Meeting Day was unconstitutional. A similar lawsuit was filed against Winooski for also allowing non-citizens to vote.
In a statement released Friday, Odum said Judge Robert Mello has dismissed the lawsuit in Montpelier. The clerk said Mello “upheld the previously established constitutionality of the practice, which is now codified in the city’s charter.
“This question had been asked and answered so many times over the last few years, it was pretty clear what the ruling was going to be,” Odum said in the statement. “When all was said and done, their issue was always with the legislature, rather than with me or the citizens of Montpelier - who overwhelming approved expanding our city elections to include our non-citizen neighbors. It’s their city too, after all, so it’s only fair.”
A handful of non-citizens voted during Town Meeting Day in Montpelier last month.
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