Steve Simon: Concern over felon voting is misdirected
"MN Sec. of State"08/09/2010
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has made solid voter registration efforts.
By STEVE SIMON
Star Tribune
Last update: August 8, 2010 - 5:40 PM
Reading all of the recent opinion pieces in the Star Tribune about real or imagined voting by felons in Minnesota, it's easy to get the false impression that this is just another battle between the political extremes -- with no hope for a workable solution.
Some people in the debate imply that we shouldn't be worried at all about the possibility of illegal voting by felons. Others use questionable "research" as an excuse to push risky mandates, like government photo ID requirements at the polls, which could disenfranchise large numbers of law-abiding voters.
There's a better way, thanks to Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. Soon after taking office, he began an effort to crack down on voter fraud while streamlining the registration process for eligible voters. Part of his plan is now law. The other portion has been blocked by some of the same people who now criticize him.
The original Ritchie reform legislation proposed easier voter registration for eligible Minnesotans who obtain or renew their driver's licenses. Ritchie wanted to improve the system we already have. Under current law, which is an "opt-in" system, Minnesotans who get a driver's license may check a box on the application or renewal form if they want to register to vote. The Ritchie proposal allowed for an "opt-out" system so that Minnesotans would check a box only if they did not want to register to vote.
In other words, if the license holder did nothing, the state would assume that the person wanted to register to vote. At the time of the license transaction, and with the benefit of data from the courts, the secretary of state could more quickly and effectively prevent voter registration by ineligible felons.
Seventy percent of those who register to vote on the day of the election use a driver's license as their proof of residence, which means that the number of voters registering on election day could be reduced by as much as 70 percent under the Ritchie proposal. This earlier registration would help to ensure the accuracy of the voting rolls.
In 2009, Ritchie added a new component to his plan to identify felons who try to register or vote. His proposal required the Department of Corrections to provide the secretary of state every month with a list of all people serving felony sentences. The information would supplement the data that the secretary of state already receives from the courts to determine whether anyone currently on the statewide voter list is a felon, and would help election officials to determine whether a current felon has voted or attempted to vote. This would allow the secretary of state to more aggressively pursue any voting fraud by felons.
Some of the same people who complain about alleged voting by felons voted against the Ritchie reform package multiple times. Former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer and current Republican candidate for that office Dan Severson, both legislators who have criticized Ritchie on this issue in the Star Tribune, opposed the reform proposal. The bill still passed, but the governor vetoed it.
In 2010, Ritchie tried again. This time, he overcame some of the opposition. Working with Democrats and Republicans alike on compromise election legislation, he won passage of his data-sharing reform. As a result, the Department of Corrections and the Secretary of State's Office now have new authority to cooperate in protecting the integrity of the voting process. Unfortunately, thanks to some of the same legislators who criticize Ritchie today, the final compromise did not include the "opt-out" driver's license renewal system. That piece of reform is unfinished business that Ritchie and others will continue to pursue.
It's fair to ask his critics whether they will abandon their opposition to this initiative for early detection of felons registering to vote.
Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, is a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives.