This is from the website of the Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance.
On February 25, 2010, two of the leading non-partisan elections groups in Minnesota - Citizens for Election Integrity MN and Common Cause MN - released (a response) to a report, issued in Oct 2009 from the conservative think-tank Center of the American Experiment, that used faulty information to cast unfounded doubt on Minnesota's elections systems.
The referenced report is here. It's long and detailed (also, compelling and conclusive). This is from the end:
The Center of the American Experiment (CAE) proposes that significant changes are needed in Minnesota's election systems. However, the CAE report provides no documentation to back up its claims and, upon close scrutiny, its claims are found to be highly inaccurate and misleading, which calls into question its conclusions and recommendations. We have seen the report's so-called facts as well as its recommendations in opinion pieces in newspapers across Minnesota. One example of a fact is its claim that the rejection rate for military absentee voters was16 times greater than regular absentee voters, when in fact it was double. In addition, the military absentee rejection rate was cut in half between 2006 and 2008 and further improvements have already been made. Since its facts have been published throughout Minnesota, we hope that our response will also be published to set the record straight.
In full, the CAE's recommendations are a pretty flagrant attempt to limit voting rights, as much as possible, to those likely to vote Republican. In a sense, you can't blame them. Long-term demographics, including increasing levels of educational attainment, are working against hard-core conservatism; limiting the franchise is one way to try to counteract that. (The recent Supreme Court decision on campaign finance was, flagrantly and despicably, another. Count on the righties' efforts becoming ever more extreme.)
No doubt many viewers of this blog are already at least somewhat familiar with the ideology, activities, and better-known personnel, past and present, at the CAE. Here's its website. And here's measured and respectful commentary, by me, below the fold.
Now that the Republican appointed Justices on the US Supreme Court have ruled against campaign finance rules and for corporations buying elections, the situation looks grim for those of us who want to protect democracy in this country. We've seen how difficult it is to pass anything through the Senate and I can't envision Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid passing campaign finance reform when he can't even pass a public option. And, yes, I think passing campaign finance reform would be tougher. Let's face it, the corporations own far too many Senators and Representatives.
The hope I see for our elections is Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) or Ranked Choice Voting (RCV).
In RCV elections, third party candidates can play a larger role and not as a spoiler. In RCV elections, there will be more discussion of the issues and less repeating of bull**** talking points. Massive independent expenditure ad buys would not have the same impact when the campaign is about the issues that matter.
Furthermore, the effectiveness of negative campaigning will be reduced because, in most RCV election scenarios, campaigns will most likely need to be the second choice of other candidates' supporters. If you've been slagging them for months, why would their supporters consider supporting your candidate?
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) have introduced same day registration bills into their respective chambers. We Minnesotans know how well it works and most often lead the nation in voter turnout. Cosponsors, at this point, include Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) among others.
"Helping more Americans exercise their right to vote is in the best interests of our democracy," Feingold said. "The system in Wisconsin, which allows for same day registration, has worked well for more than 30 years and is a major reason why Wisconsin is a national leader in voter turnout. In fact, the states that frequently have the highest voter turnout all allow Election Day registration. We should take action to get more people involved in the political process and same day registration is a proven way to do it."
"Minnesota routinely leads the nation in voter turnout - usually over 70%," Ellison stated. "We do so because in Minnesota our right to vote is a sacred right and a moral obligation. In Minnesota we do everything that encourages, fosters and facilitates everyone's ability to exercise that right. Enacting a National Election Day Registration law would do for the nation what same day registration has done for our State - give a voice to all who want to vote."
(Rep. Ellison press release)
Somehow I don't think any Republicans will be supporting this.
Many ideas were presented today by Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State. The list is behind the fold. To me the single greatest improvement, not on the list, would be
Make the Tuesday General Election day a holiday!
I hate the idea of an electronic election book. It leaves us as vulnerable to electronic loss or programmed changing of data. Right now when an electronic outage happens we can continue voting. An electronic outage happened during the last election, near my house, due to a car accident. An electronic outage with an electronic book would STOP voting. That is unacceptable. Right now several lines with several books are set up. I can just see the computer problems that hold up everything. Which brings me to my next rule:
Keep paper ballots and paper processing, so we can vote in the middle of electronic outage or snowstorm and no one can mess with our votes.
Moving the primary to an earlier date will be the most controversial proposal.
I am worried about that this proposal
• OSS ensures that only eligible Minnesotans are registered to vote by checking government databases including: courts, Department of Corrections, Department of Public Safety, and Social Security Administration.
I think that this has be done 6 months in advance with two notices sent to the voter, so the voter can basically fix any problems. Right now people like me with four names would be disenfranchised because some government cannot hold my legal name, and there is a name mismatch. Minnesota is less vulnerable since I could simply re-register on election day. Florida and other states have used this process to prevent many valid voters from voting.
At a state senate hearing Friday about the Franken/Coleman recount, Dick Day marvelously expressed the conservative view that disenfranchising some voters is OK. It explains how they could see it as election theft to count absentee votes that were wrongly rejected. That's the breaks, too bad. Day was talking specifically about the standard for hand recounts of going by the intent of the voter. Had the machine decided of course, and wrongly rejected ballots not been counted, Coleman would have won. It's self-serving of them of course, but also their attitude that voting is a privilege, not a right, so if you don't get to vote, so what? If you can stop likely Democrats from voting, isn't that just the game?
Sick of spoiler candidates ruining your candidates hopes and your dreams? There is a solution -- Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Any bitter Tinklenberg supporters out there? Independent Party candidate Bob Anderson took 10% of the vote in the MN-06 race. How many of you are wondering how much of the 10% would have gone to Tink?
Regardless of who ends up winning the recount in the Minnesota Senate race, this recount could have been avoided. What if this Senate race had used IRV? What if the Dean Barkley supporters had indicated a second choice? Do you think more would have gone to Al Franken or Norm Coleman?
In IRV elections, voters rank their choices. If nobody wins 50% +1, the bottom candidate is dropped and their voters votes redirected to their second choice. There are no wasted votes in an IRV election. You can vote your heart without worrying you might be wasting your vote and putting someone you despise in office.
Sick of dirty politics? IRV elections tend to be cleaner. Candidates tend not to go after their opponents because ... well ... they look bad. Imagine a major race any race in this state not being a dirty mud-slinging contest.
As I was speaking to my friends and fellow Democrats since the caucus, I was regretting not submitting a resolution at the caucus. My resolution would've been about making Election Day (at least Presidential Election Day) a National Holiday (every four years, at least) every year in November. Think of the voter turnout, I thought to myself, think of the participation.
However, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if it was such a hot idea.
Having election day on a Tuesday could be a problem for many businesses, because I would suspect many people would be calling in the Monday before a national holiday. But, even if we moved election day to Wednesday we'd still probably find many people taking long weekends, either before or after the holiday. Or would we? I'm not quite sure. Are those the people who don't vote, no matter what?
I know we don't want to disenfranchise anyone, so how do we make it easier for people to get to their polling place? Or perhaps the people who really want to vote, do, and the people who don't really make an effort, don't really care all that much. I'm sure the latter is not the case for everyone, but I'm sure a fair share of potential voters think exactly that way.
(Yet another community gets a veto stuck to them by Governor Pawlenty: Minnesota's active-duty service members. - promoted by MNCampaignReport)
I hope you heard the interview with America Votes on Minnesota Matters last night!
If not, it was a very interesting interview.
About 20% of active duty soldiers deployed vote. I was shocked by that figure, those that are fighting for this country are not voting? It seems in some states, the election laws make it very difficult to obtain absentee ballots.
The Pentagon, in an effort to lessen the burden on our soldiers, came forth with a program to enable more soldiers to vote.
Legislation has been passed in 35 states, making the soldiers access to absentee ballots easier, some now even have the ability to fax in verification forms, speeding the process.
But Governor Pawlenty vetoed the State Government Finance Bill (SF 1997). A T-Paw veto? Imagine that.
