Editorial: Election bills fell to partisan 'gotcha'
May 31, 2009
Plenty of Minnesotans will follow today's oral arguments with
considerable impatience and frustration. They'll wonder why several
thousand of the last election's 290,000 absentee ballots landed in
legal limbo. They'll ask whether a surer system could be devised to
make absentee ballots less prone to administrative errors and legal
second-guessing.
Several county elections officials on the receiving end of those
questions answered them at a Humphrey Institute conference last week,
with abundant frustration of their own. Yes, they said, we know how to
improve absentee balloting to minimize this problem in the future. We
worked persistently with both parties in the Legislature this year to
get a reasonable remedy through the House and Senate. We want to move
the processing of absentee ballots out of precincts and into county
offices, to improve uniformity and relieve pressure on already busy
election judges.
The measure included provisions drawn from at least eight separate
bills, from an earlier primary date to absentee-ballot streamlining.
While the bill was not everything reformers had sought — no early
voting, for instance — it would have made dozens of improvements to the
current system.
The measure included provisions drawn from at least eight separate
bills, from an earlier primary date to absentee-ballot streamlining.
While the bill was not everything reformers had sought — no early
voting, for instance — it would have made dozens of improvements to the
current system.
All fell to Pawlenty’s veto pen because the bill didn’t meet Republicans’ demand for new photo-ID requirements.
We hope Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of an elections
bill on Friday will be the beginning, not the end, of a full review of
Minnesota's election law and the lessons of the U.S. Senate recount
fight.
If the Great Election Recount of 2008-09 has proven anything, it is
that the very legitimacy of our democracy rests on the integrity of our
voting system.
Gov. Tim
Pawlenty had an opportunity to sign into law several crucial election
improvements that would have eliminated many of the sources of error
and confusion we’ve witnessed in the U.S. Senate election recount. Yet
the governor chose on Thursday to veto House File 1053, which would
have authorized a critical improvement in our voter registration system.
Modernizing
and automating voter registration is crucial. A national survey last
fall found that more election problems resulted from voter registration
mistakes than from any other cause.
Minnesota House approves no-excuse early voting bill
May 15, 2009
Minnesotans could vote before Election Day
without an excuse, and absentee ballots would be counted more reliably
under a bill passed Thursday by the House.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, said
it was drafted to correct flaws in the state voting system that became
apparent during the still-undecided U.S. Senate election between
Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. He said the
measure should ensure that every vote is counted.
No-excuse early voting is a "matter of convenience for voters
who have increasingly busy lives," said Rep. Will Morgan,
DFL-Burnsville.
The change would allow voters to show up at their city halls or
courthouses four to 15 days before an election and vote "exactly like
they would on Election Day," Morgan said.
The early voting would be faster and simpler than voting by
absentee ballot, which requires completing complicated paperwork.
Thirty-two other states allow no-excuse early voting.
The Minnesota House of Representatives began debating Wednesday night a
bill authored by Sen. Katie Sieben, DFL-Cottage Grove, that would allow
early voting, move primary elections to June and change the way
absentee ballots are handled.
“Because of the Senate recount and the
closeness of the election there was clarity about some aspects of
Minnesota statute that I think should be updated or changed,” Sieben
said. “These are provisions that aren’t necessarily controversial.”
Minnesotans are a step closer to being able to vote early without the hurdles of the state's beleaguered absentee-ballot system.
The House approved a bill today that would broadly overhaul the
state's elections law, an effort that was given momentum by voting
flaws uncovered by the long battle over the still-unresolved U.S.
Senate race.
The Mankato Free Press editorial board wrote an editorial in favor of election reform.
A voting and election reform proposal moving through
the Legislature offers a lot of common sense, low-cost ways to improve
the efficiency of vote counting and voting itself in Minnesota.
Minnesota Senate relaxes early voting rules in wake of Coleman-Franken fight
May 08, 2009
Want to avoid standing in a long line of voters on Election Day?
You could under a bill passed Friday by the Minnesota Senate.
The measure, approved 41-22, would permit voters to cast ballots early without an excuse.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Katie Sieben, DFL-Newport, said early voting would make it easier and faster for people to vote.
Sieben said she also designed the measure to "correct gaps that
came to light" during the glare of Minnesota's still-undecided 2008
U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and
Democratic challenger Al Franken.
"While Minnesota has much to be proud of, the Franken-Coleman
contest demonstrated areas that also could be strengthened," she said.
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