 Okay I think we'll get started. First I'd like to say good afternoon to everyone and thank you for coming to this virtual conference. It's been my pleasure over the last 35 years to have had the honor to serve the people of Vermont as a public servant. As Vermont's Secretary of State for the last 12 years before that I was an eight-year Chittenden County State Senator and before that an 18-year South Burlington City Council member. During these many years as a public official I've worked really hard to serve Vermont citizens in a professional and dutiful manner always striving to make our government more efficient, more accessible, and more transparent for all Vermonters. I've also entered my elected positions in government with over 30 years of experience in the business sector. This background helped me evaluate policies and proposed legislation with a very broad lens examining how our actions would translate in reality and how it might affect Vermonters. For me the end result of the work of government should always be to improve the health, safety, and lives of all of our citizens. After each election I took an oath to uphold the constitutions of both our nation and our state and I worked every day to abide by those governing principles. It was critically important to me that the Secretary of State's office operated in a non-partisan, non-political manner and I know we have worked very hard to do that. After each election, oops sorry, as Vermont Secretary of State I was honored to have served as National Association of Secretaries of State President, U.S. Election and Assistance Commission Board of Advisors, Council of State Government's Executive Board, and I currently am National Co-Chair for the Overseas Voting Initiative for Military Personnel and Overseas Citizens. And I've also been privileged to testify before Congress on both voting and election cybersecurity. During my term as Secretary of State, Vermont models for elections, professional regulation, and business registration, as well as archives and records management, were nationally commended as among the best in the country and an example for other states to follow. Today I am announcing that I am not seeking reelection to the position of Vermont Secretary of State. While I have enjoyed this job every day, I am looking forward to a new chapter next January at the conclusion of my current term. The position of Secretary of State is critically important in the protection of citizens' voting rights and upholding our democracy. It should not be viewed as merely a stepping stone for a higher office. I especially want to publicly acknowledge and thank all of the staff members at the Secretary of State's office. Together, we have improved the operations of the office and the services to Vermonters. I particularly want to recognize my Deputy Secretary, Chris Winters, who has served the office for 25 years with the last seven as my deputy. He has been a tremendous asset and indispensable partner carrying out the work to make our office more efficient, more credible, and more accountable. Chris has been a vital member of my senior management team overseeing policy and operations and spearheading many important legislative changes. In my almost 12 years now as Secretary, we have accomplished many goals as the office transitioned from paper-driven processes to a more efficient and accurate digital environment using online applications and a well-respected and redesigned website. We have endured and we have ensured accessible, free, fair, and secure election processes while protecting and expanding Vermonters' constitutional right to vote. And we've done that through same-day voter registration, automatic voter registration, online voter registration, ADA-compatible accessible voting, enhanced cybersecurity, universal vote-by-mail, ballot dropboxes, ballot curing. I also want to thank Vermont's 246 city and town clerks for their efforts working with our office to perform the very core of our democracy, our elections. Our office protects the health and safety of the public through regulation and investigation of over 50 professions, 80,000 plus licensees, and we assist Vermont's business sector in registering to do business in Vermont. The Vermont State Archives and Records Administration has received federal grants in recognition of the work being done to protect Vermont's important historical documents and to work with state agencies to improve records management and public accessibility to those documents. I also want to thank my family, my friends, my colleagues for their support, including those who have encouraged and supported me in my career, my colleagues from the South Burlington City Council, Chittenden County Senators with a special thanks to former Senator Jim Letty, Governor Howard Dean, Governor and Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, and of course Senators Leahy Sanders and Congressman Welch. More recently has been my honor to work with Governor Scott, Lieutenant Governor Gray, Treasurer Pierce, Attorney General Donovan, Auditor Hoffer, Senate President Pro Tem Ballant, House Speaker Jill Kroinsky, and many other dedicated and hard working legislative committee chairs and members. Most importantly, I want to thank all Vermonters for your support and for the privilege of allowing me to serve you during my 35 plus years of elected public service. It has been my honor, it has been the honor of my lifetime and I am grateful to have been provided the opportunity to help protect, defend, and enhance our democracy. I also want to say thank you to my partner Annie. It's been a great run. Thank you. Stay safe, be well, and please do your part to keep our state a welcoming and respectful place for all Vermonters. Thank you. Okay, we can take questions. If you're a reporter with a media inquiry, please raise your hand either in the Zoom function or by pressing star six. The first person I saw raised their actual hand, so Mike Donahue, you can go ahead. Make sure to unmute yourself and ask a question. So was that an endorsement of Chris Winters that you were making? Mike, as you know, I have never endorsed anybody for elected office, whether it be local, state, or federal. I will say that Chris is, I know he's considering a run for this seat, and I will deal with that at the appropriate time. I noticed you got a haircut the other day, I was just wondering if he was preparing. The other thing, why is it that everybody always claims transparency when they're running for office, but it seems like a lot of people get to Montpelier and they flip flop, and for whatever reason, you have been actually one of the more transparent people around, and I just find it interesting that people that have run for governor and other positions get to Montpelier and suddenly they're not quite as transparent, and they don't see it quite as, but you've stayed transparent. I have to salute you, but why is it that you didn't waver like the others have? I can't speak for why others have taken the steps that they have. Mike, I appreciate your comments. Transparency has always been important to me. I believe that good government is open government, and that's been my mantra from when I was a city counselor as a state senator, and then as you know, as a secretary of state. Okay, thank you. I may have another one, but I'll let somebody else ask. I'm not going to let you off easy. Okay, up next, we've got Sarah M. Sarah, feel free to unmute yourself and ask a question. Hi, Mr. Secretary. Thank you for hosting this today and congrats on the retirement. I hope you can relax a little bit after this. My question is, I'm so sorry if you hear my Slack notifications buzzing off. We've seen in the past couple years nationwide a real questioning of our country's election integrity. And I'm wondering if you can reflect on that, conversation that's happening and how that has perhaps changed your job as since you have had such a long tenure and your kind of statement on that at large. Thank you, Sarah. It is disheartening to see what's been going on around the country. And I think that I think the Lord that we don't have that situation here in Vermont, but it does exist. I will say that that, you know, we've we've propped up on our website, a facts versus myths webpage. It's it's there for the public to see it answers some of the very basic questions that you've seen. The concern I have is that there's this massive disinformation misinformation campaign going on across the country, using social media, whether it be Twitter, or Facebook or whatever the social media platform is through the media, in some cases. And really, we have to take a step back. Our democracy is in dire straits right now. And I really believe that we have to take steps to retake and reset the democratic principles that we have always operated under. You know, I've participated in elections at the local level back in the 90s, early 2000s. I was a state senator, chaired the committee that actually oversaw elections. And there has been really not a bit of truth to any of the false charges that have been levied nationwide. Are there is there some voter fraud now? And again, yeah, there is. It's very minuscule. I mean, it's a very, very small percentage like point 000001. It's really, really minute. We had one case this year that that was adjudicated by the Attorney General's office, one case out of 375,000 votes that were were cast. And that person got caught. That's the thing. We have procedures in place. We have the processes in place. And we work diligently to protect those, but also to enhance them. And one other question before I let others have a chance at it. I know you spoke about your how proud you are of your ability to do your job in a non-partisan and unbiased way. And I'm wondering if you can just expand on that and perhaps tell us some of the things that you're most proud of in your 10-year, 10-year. Well, I think, you know, as I said in my opening remarks, the fact that we went from a paper-driven process to a digital environment was was the key to almost everything that we've done because we've, by going to the digital environment, we are actually much more accurate, much more process-driven. And, you know, things like, for instance, just in the in the corporate, corporations section, it used to take 15 days when I took off as 15 days for someone to register their business and get their paperwork back from us. That included sending in filling out the paperwork, sending it into our office, having us process it and send it back. Now that's done in less than 30 minutes. You know, the annual report cycle used to take 10 to 12 weeks for us to catch up on everything because of the massive amount of paper we would receive. It's now done instantaneously. We've done, we've gone from division to division and put in the processes in place that we needed to do. And this just makes it, again, more accurate, more efficient for our staff. And we've been able to do a lot more with a lot less. And I just think it's, you know, one of the things I'm proud of is in the budget area. When I first took office, this office used to get 1.8 million in general funds. After two years, we gave it all back to the legislature and said we didn't need it. We could operate off the fees that we generate. And, you know, that was a major piece to give back almost $2 million to the legislature. So, you know, there's a lot of things in the area of elections. You know, we've put all these, removed a lot of the barriers and made it easier for people to vote. We've got the protections in place. We went from when I first took office being 38th in the nation as far as a ranking for an election administration to 2016, we were number one. In 2018, we were number three. The new results are not out and won't be until later this year. But we expect to be in the top five at least as we go. So, you know, we have made improvements throughout our processes. And one of the things I've always challenged my staff to do is don't tell me just what you have to do. Tell me what you need to do, what's required. And we can make changes if we need to, if it's something that we don't have to do, that we don't really need, but just because it's in statute. So there's a lot of things over the time. I think we've become more accurate, more efficient, and more credible. Okay, next we've got Gordon D. Gordon, go ahead. Gordon, unmute. We're gonna be there with us. Gordon, hear me now. Yes. I can swear I hit the unmute button. So first off, why have you picked now to get out and do you have any specific plans for that new chapter you alluded to in January? I don't have any new plans. I've been in office now as Secretary of State for 12 years. That's a pretty long time. I mean, if you look back in history, Jim Douglas was 12 years, Deb Markowitz was 12 years, and it just feels like it's time for me. You know, I'm ready to step aside. I've been in elected office now for over 35 years. I had a 30 plus year career in business. It's just time for me to go. Okay. And my next question mirrors one you were already asked. The flip side of proudest accomplishments, is there anything you perhaps wish you had done differently or perhaps some unfinished business you're leaving that your successor will have to address? We've had a pretty good relationship with the legislature and with the governor, both Republican and Democratic governors. So I think one of the things I'm also proud of is the fact that we have run this office in a nonpartisan manner. I've got strong supporters on both sides of the aisle and all the while while we've made improvements to the things that we do here in this office. I think many times people don't understand the complexity. For instance, elections administration is really not something that is simple. It's not as simple as one, two, three. It's a very complex process. We have many, many things in place. And above all, we've got the cybersecurity and I think after the 2016 election or just prior to the 2016 election when cybersecurity really came to the forefront and Vermont became a national spokesperson really on cybersecurity and elections administration. But it was partly because my team and I had worked on that beginning back in 2011, 12, 13, we had started ahead of time looking at the processes that we had in place and how we would protect them. For instance, we do a daily backup of our voter registration system. So if someone were to hack into our voter registration system, we would be able to be back up and running within minutes because we have the backup. And you have to go in with your eyes open as well, Gordon, because I think there is no system in the world that is perfect. And I think every system is potentially hackable. It's whether you have done the, put the proper defenses in place. And we think we have. For instance, a few years ago, I think just before the 2018 election, we had a situation where my IT manager came to me and said, hey, last night's log shows that we had some attempts that originated in Russia. What do you want me to do with it? I called the Department of Homeland Security. He called the Center for Internet Security. And within 24 hours, they had issued a nationwide alert to all election offices to let them know that there were certain IP addresses that were trying to attack election systems. So it's really about working together but working also in a way that is smart, that you're putting up the defenses that you need to put up, and staying on top of it. In other words, you can't just rest on your laurels in this job. You've got to be looking ahead. That's good for me. Thank you. Okay. Up next, we've got Kevin. Hey, Secretary, can you hear me? I can. Thanks for holding this event, really helpful for all of us in the media. I guess I have really just two questions. Maybe some smaller ones thrown in. How old are you? Can I ask that? I am 71. 71 years old. Never would have guessed. And would you rule out running for higher office? I mean, another reporter used the phrase retire. You didn't use that phrase. I don't think. Would you rule out running for higher office? Other office? In this business, I've learned never to say never, but that's not my intent. I'm 71. Okay. So you're retiring from public school? I'm hopeful that I will be retired. Okay. Can you tell us a few things that you might like to do with that time? You got grandkids? Are you a fisherman? I mean, anything about hobbies you'd like to spend time on? I think I've got grandkids that I want to get close to. I've got my family, my sister, my brother, my mom is 94 years old and still with us. There's a lot of things I want to travel. One of the things about this job has been, many of my colleagues have taken town meeting week, for instance, and they will go on vacation or something or in the summertime. And it's really difficult when you're in this job to do that because there's always something going on that you have to deal with. That's your busy time. You don't get to go on a cruise. Exactly. And then I guess my last question is, if getting back to the issue of the nonpartisan office and being a nonpartisan person in this office, can you reflect a little on the fact that through many years, more recently in particular, one party has been more apt to question election security. One party has been more apt to question the wisdom of mail-in voting, which was extremely helpful for people during a pandemic to be able to vote in that manner, as I understand it. And I think, as you have said, how do you remain nonpartisan in the face of the fact that the parties in your state view election security and these other issues very, very differently? Well, first of all, I would say that here in Vermont, we are fortunate that we have three major parties, the Republicans and Democrats and the Progressives. What I have seen when it's election-related, we have all come together to pass improvements. There may be people who oppose certain parts of it, but for the most part, I mean, when we put automatic voter registration in place, where it was having difficulties nationwide in some of the states, we were the second state to put a law in place. We were the fourth state to actually enact it. And there were three separate votes, two in the House and one in the Senate. And out of 300 votes cast for automatic voter registration, there was only one no vote. And that one no vote had nothing to do with the bill itself. It was a dispute between that person and the party member from that committee that it was proposing this. When we had the vote by mail, we really did have tripartisan support to move to vote by mail. I mean, there were some people that voted against it, but we did have tripartisan support. And I think that in general, we try to come to agreement. We work behind the scenes at the legislature. We talk with people. We're not afraid to talk to people. We reach out and we explain the processes. And I think the fact that I've not endorsed people gives me some credibility. Having been run as a Democrat in the Senate and run as a Democrat in the secretary of state, but I still operate the office in a manner that is nonpartisan. And I think people have that faith and that trust and that credibility in me. Okay. Great. Thanks. Good luck with your next ventures. Thanks. Appreciate it. All right. Are there any other reporters with a question? If you have one, please use the Zoom function of raising your hand or somehow signify to me. Okay, Sarah, go ahead. It looks like you've got a follow-up. I'm just going to take this opportunity while we have you to bring up redistricting. I'm sure it's heavy on your mind right now and is probably extremely challenging considering the timeline that you're under because of how things went. Can we just get some form of an update or a statement from you on how things are going, how you're feeling about the whole process? We're coming up close on, I believe it's April 1st, is your deadline to get maps in from the legislature? Actually, Sarah, what we've asked the legislature to do is to try to have the approved maps signed by the governor by April 1st because we have a lot of back-end processes that have to be changed to meet that. For instance, we have 500,000 registered voters. We have to make sure each and every one of those is in the correct voting district as we prepare for the votes, the ballots. And then you have the situation of the candidates who, as of I think the date is April 25th, is the start of the nominating petition deadline, the window for the deadline is actually May 26th. But we have to know which district they're in in order to get their nominating petitions in place. So there's a lot of stuff that has to go. We're kind of on the periphery. Once it goes to the legislature, as far as what occurs, I will say that when you look at the Vermont Constitution and the Vermont state statutes, both in combination, contemplate up to two member districts in the House and up to three member districts in the Senate. That's what the laws are. So I think that's what the legislature is looking at and not trying to rush through. Part of the problem we're having with the reapportionment this year is that the previous presidential administration delayed and filed lawsuits on some of the actions of the census and that delayed the information by a good six months getting to the states. And I think many of the states, every state has almost a different process is how they do reapportionment. I would recommend that Vermont look at some of these other states to see if we can find a way to do this in a better, more efficient way. It's kind of convoluted right now because we have a legislative apportionment board, which is partisan, and then we go to the legislature, which is also partisan. So I would like to see it get to a point where it really is a nonpartisan board. Anyone else? Last call for questions. Kevin, go ahead. Yeah, I just want to drill down a little bit more on that, Jim, if I could on the nonpartisan board. How does that occur? Would the legislature effectively have to pass a law that took reapportionment out of their own hands? And is that likely? Well, that's the question, I think, Kevin. I was a member of the Senate reapportionment committee in 2001 and 2002. And I've been obviously now Secretary of State for the last two, this one and the one previous in 2011. And the legislature always has the last say. But I think that if we can come up with, I was just on a Zoom call with an elections expert from Denver, Colorado just before. And they have a new system in place, which she says is actually working pretty well. Every system has its issues. And I don't think there's a perfect system out there. But here in Vermont, for instance, we have a seven-member legislative apportionment board. Two members are Democrats, two members are Republicans, and two members are progressives. And then there's the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court nominates a person to be the special master, if you want to call it, of the committee. Still comes down to it's somewhat partisan. And then that plan goes to the legislature. And then you have all the discussions in the legislature in the debate that occurs there. So I just think that we have to see, I'm a firm believer in not resting on our laurels, but actually looking ahead and saying, are there better ways to do things? And I think that that's what we should do. And the way that that would be accomplished would have to be by statute. Well, yes, there's no question. I mean, we have to follow the Constitution, and then we also have to follow the statute. But the Constitution just makes some broad statements, whereas it's the statutes that actually make the details. So I guess that's my question. Would it require a constitutional amendment to make that change, or could that just be done by statute, if you know? Well, it could be. And in some states, it is a constitutional amendment. For instance, in Colorado, they had to go through a constitutional amendment to make the change that they did. I don't know if that system, I haven't really looked into it in depth, so I'm not sure if that system would require us to make a constitutional amendment. But I think we should look. I think we should see if there's a better way. We've got 50 states, you know, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We can look around and see what other states are doing and which ones work best. Maybe that can be your retirement gig. There you go. Thanks for your time. Thank you, everybody. I think that'll wrap things up, and I'll just turn it over to final words to the secretary. So again, I want to thank everyone for participating today. This has been a real honor for me to have served the state of Vermont for many years as I have. Most of it is a part-time, but the last 12 years, obviously, as a full-time state employee elected. You know, it's been really my honor to look for ways to make and improve the livelihoods of Vermonters, to improve our processes, to try to be more efficient, accountable, and yes, Mike Donoghue, more transparent. We thank you very much.