Early Voting / Absentee Ballots / Automatic Registration
CALL THE GOVERNOR TODAY AND URGE HIM TO SIGN SF1331
LWVMN Position: Support improvements in election laws regulating election procedures, voting and school district elections.
Action: The omnibus election reform bill will be on conference and back to the Senate and House Floor within the next three days.
Please contact the governor and tell him our senate recount indicates that this election reform bill must be signed.
Please forward this message to friends who share your concern about Minnesota’s election laws – we will need many, many calls to encourage the governor to sign.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty, 651-296-3391, “mailto:tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us”
Background:
While Minnesota’s election laws weathered the senate recount very well, the fact that 12,000 absentee ballots were rejected statewide due to errors by the voter or by election officials indicates a problem. (There were almost 300,000 absentee ballots cast.) Some people were confused by the cumbersome nature of the absentee voting process. Some election judges were confused by the vague language describing the criteria for rejecting an absentee ballot. Something has to be done about absentee ballots!
Please urge the governor to sign the Election Reform bill. It is non-partisan and represents the collective wisdom of election officials from around the state and of citizen advocates like LWVMN. They will both streamline our election laws and save money for state and local governments.
The Republican opposition in the floor debate rested on the refusal of each House to pass their Photo ID amendment. The fact that no one has ever tried to vote impersonating another voter has no effect on their determination to pass this amendment. Nor does the fact that the minuscule number of voters who do vote fraudulently, usually out of ignorance, (There were 14 in 2004 out of almost 3 million ballots.) would not have been affected by a photo ID requirement.
SF1331 includes two major provisions we have supported:
The Early Voting Provision, step one in solving the absentee ballot problem, would allow citizens to vote two weeks or so before the general election.
• This would help many, including business people with uncertain schedules and the elderly or ill – or pregnant – who might have trouble standing in lines,
• This would be less expensive for cities to administer than the absentee ballot process.
Absentee ballot requirements are modified to address some of the problems identified by our U.S. Senate recount. Examples:
• Matching driver’s license or ID numbers replace the current required signature match.
• A ballot board will receive returned absentee ballots, determine if they are acceptable, and notify voters whose ballots are rejected so they may vote again if they wish.
• The ballot board will count the absentee ballots on Election Day, relieving exhausted election judges after polls close.
Thanks for your help! Gwen Myers, Action Chair