More than 2,500 people have signed an online petition calling on the state Legislature to select Republican Scott Milne as governor of Vermont despite that fact that unofficial results show he received about 2,000 fewer votes than Gov. Peter Shumlin.
The language of the petition as well as some comments by signatories show intense dissatisfaction with Shumlin, who received less than 50 percent of votes cast on Tuesday. Since no candidate received a majority of votes, the Legislature must choose the winner in January.
"If you were disgruntled by Vermont's incumbent governor's underhanded and shady land deals or just ready to make way for change then please sign this petition," the petition reads.
As of 10 a.m. Friday, the petition had 2,535 signatures with some of those who signed asking legislators to vote for Milne because the majority of votes were against Shumlin. (It should be noted that the majority of votes were also against Milne).
In order to win in the Legislature, Milne would need to get at least 91 votes in the 180-member joint assembly of the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 63 Republicans in the joint assembly, so Milne would need some votes from outside his own party in order to become governor.
