(C) Minnesota Reformer
This story was originally published by Minnesota Reformer and is unaltered.
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Improving democracy’s first step [1]
['More From Author', 'April', 'Ken Peterson']
Date: 2023-04-17
Voting is the necessary starting point for democracy. The idea is that citizens vote for leaders to represent them with the understanding that those elected will generally do what most voters want.
In setting out voting procedures to best reflect popular opinion, two rules should be followed. The first is that qualified voters should face as few obstacles to voting as possible. The second rule is that those who aren’t qualified should not be able to vote.
In the next few weeks, the Minnesota Legislature is poised to approve a number of measures satisfying both rules. None of the proposals are particularly exciting or earth-shattering on their own, but combined they would significantly improve our democracy. These measures are in several different comprehensive bills:
Automatic registration. If otherwise eligible, people issued or renewing their drivers’ licenses or state identification cards — both issued by the state Department of Public Safety — would be automatically registered to vote in their local precinct. Other state licensing agencies and tribal governments would also be encouraged to adopt similar procedures.
Registration for post-secondary students not living at home. Institutions would be required to submit to local election officials the names of those living in their home to enable students to vote.
Pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds. Young people would be able to pre-register, allowing them to vote after reaching age 18.
Permanent absentee voting list. Before each election, eligible voters would automatically get an absentee ballot without getting an application, submitting a signed document to officials, receiving the ballot and then returning it. This is particularly important for voters in long-term care.
Challenge voting qualifications. This sets out procedures for a citizen to challenge residency or other qualifications of another who is registered to vote. A citizen would not need to rely on an initiative of government officials to disqualify an ineligible voter. Election officials could still disqualify on their own, and county prosecutors could still bring criminal actions against illegal voters. (Voting fraud seldom occurs in Minnesota. There were only 35 convictions of fraud among the 5.9 million votes cast in 2018 and 2020.)
Early voting. A voter could cast a ballot during the 18 days prior to an election at staffed locations designated by the county auditor or municipal clerk. The voter would not have to use absentee voter procedure to vote early.
Prohibiting election interference or intimidation. This provides civil and criminal penalties for such actions intimidating or interfering with voters or election officials.
Removal of poor performing election officials. A county auditor could remove election officials for neglect, malfeasance or misconduct without having to show illegal actions. Elections are too important to be policed by incompetent people.
Voting materials must be available in languages other than English. Instructions and sample ballots would be available in communities with limited English proficiency.
Since they would apply equally to both red and blue geographic and demographic areas, it’s doubtful these measures would significantly help either political party win elections. They may help increase voter turnout; Minnesota usually leads the nation in this metric already. Nevertheless, the best rationale for these proposals is to make the act of voting as easy as possible.
Legislators and Gov. Tim Walz have already passed legislation restoring voting rights to people on parole or probation who have already done their time. They’re also considering proposals related to campaign finance, ranked choice voting and electoral college vote allocations, each of which ought to be passed into law.
But it’s as important — or arguably even more so — to improve and protect the simple and necessary procedures of voting. The above-described measures would do so and should become law.
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