Bill would rein in partisan challenges

03/22/2005

Dane Smith, Star Tribune
March 22, 2005

Donna Whitefeather, a get-out-the-vote activist, and LuAnn Crowe, an election judge on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, say that a Republican operative from Washington, D.C., improperly challenged so many Indian voters at the reservation on Election Day that the challenger eventually was removed by tribal police.

“Our elections laws say you can’t do it at random, you have to have some personal knowledge that they are ineligible,” Whitefeather said. But she said it’s too easy for challengers in both parties to skirt the law, intimidate voters and in some cases prevent eligible voters from casting votes.

A bill that would make it more difficult to challenge the validity of voters at polling places was approved Monday by the Senate Elections Committee, along with several other provisions intended to increase access.

Among the new restrictions: Challenges would have to be in writing and challengers would have to sign an oath they had personal knowledge that a particular individual was not eligible. Challengers would have to take training in the process and parties wold have to pay for it. Challengers as well as other election officials would have to display badges that clearly display their job.

The proposal has tripartisan support—DFL, Republican and Independence Party senators are sponsors—but Minnesota Republican Party officials objected to it, contending that it would make justified challenges almost impossible.

“The Republican Party would not support legislation that would encourage voter fraud,” said Michael Brodkorb, the party’s spokesman. It “dilutes the ability for election judges and citizen poll challengers to verify that every vote cast was in fact a legal vote.”

Other provisions passed by the committee would make it easier for college students and people housed in residential institutions such as battered women’s shelters to vote. Another provision would ensure that election materials are printed in more languages.

The package of changes is backed by a new group, the Voting Rights Coalition, which includes the League of Women Voters, the Minnesota Council on Nonprofits and the Disability Center, among others.

Despite fears of chaos, widespread challenges and a possible hung election, Minnesota’s process worked fairly well on Election Day.

However, Pam Costain, director in Minnesota of Election Protection 2004, said that most of the 46 complaints that her group forwarded to a national database had to do with “overzealous partisan challengers.” The challenges often were based “on the way a person looked” or the fact the person was not speaking English, Costain said.

Although those numbers are not overwhelming, Costain said that over the years Minnesotans have created one of the most open and accessible election processes in the nation and that voters should be disturbed that orchestrated voter challenging seems to be on the rise.