One of the most egregious examples of gerrymandering that took place this year was in the Bennington-4 district. Arlington, Manchester, Sandgate, and Sunderland’s respective Board of Civil Authority (BCA) had agreed to a map that would split the 2-member district into two sections, one with Manchester getting its own representative and a second section that was made up of Arlington, Sunderland, and Sandgate, which would get their own representative. But Democrats violated the expressed written consent of these towns in order to serve their two incumbents instead of serving the people in this district.
Joe Gervais is running to represent the Bennington-4 district, in part to bring a voice from Arlington to represent what our towns had desired with the proposal of the BCAs to split the district. Joe has lived in Arlington for the past ten years in his wife’s childhood home, and has numerous family members and friends living in Arlington, Sandgate, and Sunderland.
The current two-seat district presents a disadvantage to voters desiring to have an Arlington resident as their representative. With the Manchester-based incumbents running as a team and to ensure Joe is elected, voters should do a bullet vote where they solely cast a vote for Joe and do not cast a vote for Kathleen James or Seth Bongartz. Each vote cast for either opponent of Joe dilutes your vote for Joe.
Joe Gervais for Vermont State Representative 