Election Administration Bill is an Example of the Art of the Possible

HF3108 is an elections administration bill aimed at strengthening the integrity of Minnesota’s election system, mostly through “back end” administrative procedures. The bill will require new verifications to be performed on voter registration records, including checks against the Social Security Administration’s lists of deceased individuals and Department of Corrections data on felony convictions. It also strengthens and better defines a required check of voter records against Department of Public Safety data to ensure non-citizens are not allowed to register to vote.

The bill was approved by the House Government Operations Commitee on Thursday, March 4th.

The bill will also establish new reporting requirements, so that the legislature will be regularly informed of the state of the election system and anomalies that may arise. For example, when a new voter registers, a Postal Verification Card is mailed to the voter’s registered address. If the post card is returned as undeliverable, that voter will be flagged for challenge at the next election, but lists or even counts of returned PVC cards are not routinely revealed. HF3108 will require a biennial report of returned PVC cards to the legislature. This will provide insight into how many new registrations can not be verified. 

The bill also cleans up some unusual data handling procedures that previously muddied the waters of the Statewide Voter Registration System, making it difficult to forensically determine exactly who voted in past elections.

 

Toward the ends of transparency and integrity, this bill represents a good first step. More reforms will still be needed (especially a photo ID requirement), but in the committee hearing in which the bill was approved, Representative Kiffmeyer, a Republican co-author of the bill observed that politics is the art of the possible. This bill’s chief author was Representative Winkler, a Democrat and it was the product of bipartisan meetings on election issues. This is what was possible at the time.

 

Though Several election officials attended the committee hearing, such as Ramsey County Elections Director, Joe Mansky and The Head of Elections for the secretary of state’s office, Michelle Desjardin, none testified for or against the bill. Minnesota Majority testified in favor of the bill.

 

The bill was passed out of the House State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Committee on an overwhelming voice vote. There were one or two muttered “no” votes. 

• Sign the Election Integrity Petition
• Contact your legislators and tell them to support HF3108 and SF2388

Up Next:

Senator Gerlach has introduced an elections bill (SF2888) that would eliminate vouching and elimiate student IDs as acceptable forms of identification. It also creates provisions for provisional ballots so a person apearing at the polls without proper ID can still vote and have their vote counted if they provide proof of identity and residence within 10 days after the election.

Gerlach's bill will have a hearing in the Senate Government Operations and Oversight Comittee on Monday, March 8th at 3:00 PM, Room 123 State Capitol.