Talk:John S. Rodgers

Lieutenant governor-elect

@-A-M-B-1996-: @AG202: I hid the lieutenant governor-elect position, we shouldn't be undoing edits and start a war edit before discussing this matter properly. I wrote my argument in my edit summary "Governor-elect position isn't in the state constitution either, and Scott was also declared governor-elect in Wikipedia back in 2016 so we can't be so rigorous about what the law says, the reality is that he won the election, so he is in fact the lieutenant governor-elect and it is really unlikely that the state assembly would not certify him considering republicans broke the dems supermajority". Thanks. SantanaZ (talk) 16:15, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

• @SantanaZ: Per WP:NOTCRYSTAL, we shouldn't be adding any unconfirmed information based on assumptions about the future. I agree the legislature will likely elect Rodgers, but wait until they do or until sources report something other than our assumptions based on past practice. If Zuckerman concedes that he will not contest the legislative vote, which he has still held out as a possibility so far, that would also be grounds for considering Rodgers lieutenant governor-elect, in my view. -A-M-B-1996- (talk) 17:33, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

@SantanaZ: It's not a matter of whether or not "governor-elect" or "lieutenant governor-elect" is in the constitution. And I'm not sure why you keep bringing up the 2016 gubernatorial election when it was an entirely different situation. Phil Scott won an outright majority of the vote (above 50%); thus the election did not require a vote from the legislature under the Vermont Constitution. The 2024 Lieutenant Governor's race does require that vote because no candidate received an outright majority, hence that's why we cannot declare him Lieutenant Governor-elect until they do so, or at least until Zuckerman fully conceded as mentioned above.

The aforementioned section of the VT Constitution is Chapter II § 47 under "Elections":

§ 47. [Election of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Treasurer]

The voters of each town shall, on the day of election for choosing Representatives to attend the General Assembly, bring in their votes for Governor, with the name fairly written, to the Constable, who shall seal them up, and write on them, Votes for Governor, and deliver them to the Representatives chosen to attend the General Assembly; and at the opening of the General Assembly, there shall be a committee appointed out of the Senate and House of Representatives, who, after being duly sworn to the faithful discharge of their trust, shall proceed to receive, sort, and count the votes for Governor, and declare the person who has the major part of the votes, to be Governor for the two years ensuing. The Lieutenant-Governor and the Treasurer shall be chosen in the manner above directed.

The votes for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Treasurer, of the State, shall be sorted and counted, and the result declared, by a committee appointed by the Senate and House of Representatives.

If, at any time, there shall be no election, of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Treasurer, of the State, the Senate and House of Representatives shall by a joint ballot, elect to fill the office, not filled as aforesaid, one of the three candidates for such office (if there be so many) for whom the greatest number of votes shall have been returned.

The last section is the important part, and in common practice, it's understood to require a majority vote of the Legislature if an executive election does not have a candidate receive 50+% of the vote. Some notable examples include: the 2014 gubernatorial election, the the 2010 gubernatorial election, and the 1976 lieutenant gubernatorial election where the legislature chose the person who didn't receive a plurality of the votes. AG202 (talk) 03:57, 9 November 2024 (UTC)