Alden also ran on the Independent Vermonter Line.

Votes cast by party:

Dem - 79,273
IV - 3,359

The last time the non-plurality winner was selected was in the 1976 lieutenant governor's race, when T. Garry Buckley (R) was chosen over John Alden (D). While there was not a third party presence in the General Assembly, Alden's plurality was the result of receiving votes as a Democrat and as an "Independent Vermonter;" without the independent Vermonter votes Alden would have finished behind Buckley (the presence of a Liberty Union candidate caused the lack of a majority).

The incumbent lieutenant governor, Brian D. Burns, had not sought re-election (he had unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor), though he continued to preside over the senate until his successor was chosen and took the oath of office. In the general election, the Democratic candidate, John Alden, fell 2,854 votes short of a majority (48.4%). T. Garry Buckley, the Republican candidate, received 47.6%, and John Franco of the Liberty Union Party received 4%.

The senate debated whether the President of the Senate (Lieutenant Governor Burns) "has a casting vote to break a tie involving the election of the new Lieutenant Governor..." The issue was hotly debated. On January 6, 1977 the committee chair (Burns) overruled an opinion of the temporary senate rules committee that the presiding officer of the joint assembly (the lieutenant governor) had no such casting vote. President pr

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Alden also ran on the Independent Vermonter Line.

Votes cast by party:

Dem - 79,273
IV - 3,359

The last time the non-plurality winner was selected was in the 1976 lieutenant governor's race, when T. Garry Buckley (R) was chosen over John Alden (D). While there was not a third party presence in the General Assembly, Alden's plurality was the result of receiving votes as a Democrat and as an "Independent Vermonter;" without the independent Vermonter votes Alden would have finished behind Buckley (the presence of a Liberty Union candidate caused the lack of a majority).

The incumbent lieutenant governor, Brian D. Burns, had not sought re-election (he had unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor), though he continued to preside over the senate until his successor was chosen and took the oath of office. In the general election, the Democratic candidate, John Alden, fell 2,854 votes short of a majority (48.4%). T. Garry Buckley, the Republican candidate, received 47.6%, and John Franco of the Liberty Union Party received 4%.

The senate debated whether the President of the Senate (Lieutenant Governor Burns) "has a casting vote to break a tie involving the election of the new Lieutenant Governor..." The issue was hotly debated. On January 6, 1977 the committee chair (Burns) overruled an opinion of the temporary senate rules committee that the presiding officer of the joint assembly (the lieutenant governor) had no such casting vote. President pro tempore Robert Bloomer appealed the chair's ruling. The senate voted to uphold the chair's ruling (see Journal of the Senate of the State of Vermont, 1977, p. 13).

On January 12th Senator Bloomer again appealed the ruling. This time his appeal was sustained, leaving the presiding officer without a casting vote in the event the joint assembly tied in its election of the lieutenant governor (see Journal of the Senate of the State of Vermont, 1977, p. 44).

The General Assembly then met in joint assembly with 178 of a possible 180 members present and voting. Ninety votes (a majority) were necessary for election. Buckley received 90 votes on the first ballot, with Alden receiving 87 and John Franco, one. The legislators may have been influenced by rumors that Alden was confronting legal problems; problems that became public only after the General Assembly elected Buckley.

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