Vermonters Should Demand Roll Call Votes on Costly Bills

The Vermont General Assembly operates under rules designed to ensure transparency and accountability. Often though, laws are passed with only a voice vote as its record. This lack of accountability undermines voter transparency. When it comes to tax hikes, new fees, rules, and regulations, without a recorded vote, legislators can dodge responsibility, making it difficult for voters to hold them accountable. It is time that all legislation with significant consequences for Vermonters be subject to a mandatory roll call vote.

Voice Votes vs. Roll Call Votes: Understanding the Difference

Vermont lawmakers use three primary voting methods: voice votes, division votes, and roll call votes. While each has a role, only roll call votes provide the transparency needed to track legislative decisions.

Voice Vote: The most common and default method, a voice vote allows members to verbally respond with “yea” or “nay.” The presiding officer then determines the result based on the volume of responses. No individual votes are recorded. This method is efficient but provides zero transparency.
Division Vote: If a voice vote result is unclear, a division vote can be requested. Members stand or raise their hands to indicate their votes, and the number of votes for and against is counted. However, individual votes are still not recorded.
Roll Call Vote: The only method that ensures full transparency. During a roll call vote, each legislator’s name is called, and they must publicly state their vote, which is then officially recorded.

While roll call votes are mandatory in some instances—such as veto overrides—any legislator can request one for any bill. However, at least five members must support the request for it to proceed.

The Problem: Voice Votes Shield Lawmakers from Accountability

The recent passage of a poorly drafted bill highlights how lawmakers use voice votes to avoid public scrutiny. Instead of requiring a roll call vote, which would have placed each senator’s position on the record, the bill was advanced through its committee and the full Senate without any official documentation of individual votes. This allows legislators to later claim they were opposed—even if they took no action to stop it.

This practice deprives Vermonters of the ability to hold their representatives accountable. If a bill is good policy, why not proudly vote for it in a recorded roll call? The only reason to avoid transparency is to evade political consequences.

With many Vermonters struggling under high taxes, rising housing costs, burdensome regulations and inflation, it is unacceptable for lawmakers to pass expensive legislation in secrecy. Mandatory roll call votes should apply to all legislation that significantly impacts the cost of living OR increases regulatory burdens on daily life.

Procedural changes like requiring roll call votes for significant legislation fall under the authority of the Joint Rules Committee, which oversees procedural rules that apply to both the House and Senate. While the House and Senate Rules Committees manage their own chamber procedures, the Joint Rules Committee ensures uniformity across the Legislature. If legislators truly support transparency, they should push for a rule change at the Joint Rules Committee to ensure Vermonters know exactly where their elected officials stand on major legislation.

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A Question Every Legislator Ought to Answer on Town Meeting Day

With Vermont Town Meeting Day approaching on March 4, 2025, legislators will be back in their hometowns, meeting face-to-face with constituents. This is the perfect opportunity for voters to demand answers on legislative transparency.

If you’re planning to attend Town Meeting Day and want to bring this up with your legislators, you might consider asking something like this:

“Too often, bills that impact Vermonters financially or add new burdens to our daily lives—like tax increases, new fees, and major regulations—are passed without a recorded vote. Instead, they are pushed through by voice vote, meaning there’s no public record of who actually supported or opposed them. In committees, votes are reported as a total count, rather than by name, making it hard for constituents to track how their representatives voted. That’s not transparency.

I believe that for any bill that raises taxes, increases fees, or adds new restrictions on our daily lives, a mandatory roll call vote should be required—both in committees and on the House and Senate floor. Vermonters should never have to guess where their elected officials stand.

So my question to you is this: Will you introduce and support a rule change at the Joint Rules Committee level to require roll call votes on any bill that increases costs or daily burdens on your fellow Vermonters? And if not, can you explain why?”

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By including this statement here, legislators now have advance notice that this question is coming. It is not a “gotcha” moment, but rather an opportunity for them to explain their stance in a public forum. If they truly support transparency, they should have no problem backing these changes.

Vermonters Must Demand Legislative Accountability

Legislators should demand roll call votes on any bill that increases the cost of living or places new restrictions on Vermonters’ daily lives. These votes serve three critical purposes:

Transparency: Constituents deserve to know where their representatives stand on major issues.
Accountability: Lawmakers should not be able to obscure their positions through unrecorded voice votes.
Trust in Government: The public’s faith in the legislative process erodes when major bills pass without individual accountability.

A roll call vote is a simple request—yet many lawmakers resist it because it forces them to take a definitive stance. If a bill is truly in the best interest of Vermonters, legislators should have no problem putting their names behind it.

The only reason to avoid a roll call vote is to evade political responsibility— and that is unacceptable.

Dave Soulia | FYIVT

#fyivt #VTPolitics #TransparencyMatters #AccountabilityNow

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