Last month, Democratic Vermont State Representative Sarah Copeland Hanzas was elected secretary of state after defeating perennial Republican candidate H. Brooke Paige. She will replace retiring Secretary of State Jim Condos. From Orange County, Copeland Hanzas was first elected to the legislature in 2004, and recently oversaw the secretary of state’s office as chair of the government operations committee. As she prepares to be sworn in to the new role in the new year, she spoke with WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley:
Any race is really about getting out and talking with the voters. I have 18 years of experience doing that as a House member, so it really felt quite comfortable and natural to do that. And, you know, getting out and talking with voters, what I was hearing from them is that these are the ideas that we think would make democracy stronger in Vermont. So, I gathered that information and turned it around and sent it back out to folks and lo and behold, I think people agreed that the ideas that I was bringing were ones that are really good and positive, and probably the next steps that Vermont needs to take to strengthen our democracy.
So, what will your first priority be when you are officially Secretary of State?
I'm going to focus on filling the position of Education and Civic Engagement Coordinator. This is somebody who will be able to help to develop civics curriculum for our school teachers, but also help me get out into the communities and really engage people in how democracy works, how voting works, how you can petition your government to do something that maybe you're not able to do on your own as an individual citizen.
I think some folks would be a little bit surprised that they would think that your priority might be a more overarching issue type of situation. Do you have those that you're thinking about?
Well, certainly there are other areas of focus and the reality is that we have a really strong team here in the Secretary of State's office. The office is populated with folks who are passionate about their job and do a really good job and I don't think that there's a whole lot that we need to change in terms of how the office is operating in professional regulation, state archives and in the management of elections.
Well, Sarah Copeland Hanzas, you did mention that you're going to be taking a look at a Civics Engagement Manager. You also announced a little while ago that you are appointing a new Deputy Secretary of State. Are you planning other staff changes at all, as you are in this transition period? Or as you become Secretary of State in January?
The Secretary of State's office is a fairly sizable operation as far as Vermont State government goes. We employ around 80 people. So, there's normal churn, open positions from people moving on, but I don't expect that there will be any change in staffing that that comes as a directive from me. We have a really good team here.
How are you preparing to begin the job of Secretary of State? You're in the transition period. What are you doing to get ready?
I'm having a really good time spending time with Secretary Condos. He's been very generous with his time and sharing his perspective with me, and he's been in this role for a dozen years. He knows how the office works and about the national organization. So, I'm having a good time, sort of getting the download from him because once he's done in January, I expect he would like to be a bit more relaxed and not having me bugging him.
Well, election security was Secretary Condos’ key priority, one of his key priorities. Do you have a priority that you plan to focus on? Or is it too early to actually commit to a “key priority?”
Well, I think a lot of the things that Jim focused on are things that are always areas of concern. So, election security will always be an area of focus for a well run Secretary of State's office and the threat that we saw three years ago may not be the threat that we see now and then it may be different again in the future. So, that is an area that we will always have particular focus on because we want to make sure that at the end of the day Vermonters know that their vote counts, and that their elections are safe and fair. And so, I think that Secretary Condos also had a focus of transparency and making sure that other entities of state and municipal government really understood open meeting laws and understood the public's right to have access to records and that is a priority of mine as well. That's another area where it's sort of an area of continuous improvement because as you know, as select boards change, or as state agency leadership changes, new people need to be brought up to speed in how open government should look and I think that's a role that's important for the Secretary of State's office to play.
Sarah Copeland Hanzas, kind of along those lines, nationally we've seen kind of a new scrutiny, and in some cases, pressure on Secretary of State's offices. Not so much necessarily in Vermont but if Vermont has felt some of that, even from the sidelines. Are you prepared for whatever may come your way, regarding this additional pressure that is being put on Secretaries of State?
Yes. Our elections team, I think practices the philosophy of radical transparency. Let's make sure that everybody knows how we know that our elections are accurate and safe and fair and we will continue to do that when I take over in January as well. I think it's important for people to have faith when they take the time to cast their vote that their vote is going to count.
Sarah, you also will be overseeing business licensing and things like that. You've also been in the legislature. Is there anything as you move into the Secretary of State's office, that you would like the legislature to now address, now that you'll actually be in an office that's managing those items?
Well, there's always a legislative agenda for the office, because we have several different divisions, each of which need statutory updates. I would expect that we will have our annual Office of Professional Regulation bill. These bills are really aimed at making sure that the professional regulation and licensure is the lightest hand of touch, in order to protect public safety for these licensed professionals. So, there will always be some cleanup there. There has been a big push in Vermont to move towards ranked choice voting for the presidential primary in 2024. I heard that frequently on the campaign trail as a priority of Vermonters and so, we will need to move that bill through the legislature in order to enact that and get the ball rolling for 2024, which seems like it's a ways away, but it's actually just a little over a year away. So, it's coming right up.
As I mentioned earlier, you have been a legislator in the statehouse in Montpelier. What's the transition from being a legislator to becoming Secretary of State been like for you?
It's really exciting for me because the legislature in Vermont, it's very much a part time position. You may work on things throughout the year, you certainly have constituent service that you need to do throughout the year, but the paid part of the role is really only January to May. So, I'm kind of excited to work year-round. When I became a state representative 18 years ago, I had three little kids at home, it was a perfect part-time, part-year job, and I'm ready to do something that's a little more continuous throughout the year.
