By Rep. Jordan Rasmusson
While efforts to provide tax relief and improve public safety continue to garner headlines at the Capitol, we also are addressing other crucial issues such as our state’s elections.
House Republicans have authored numerous bills to ensure just outcomes and public confidence in our elections process. Some proposals include requiring statewide voter ID and increasing penalties for voter fraud. Another measure bans ballot harvesting and pop-up voting sites, while outlawing “Zuckerbucks” – aka, big/corporate money donated to election management sites such as school districts and county administrators that should not be taking donations to manage elections.
I personally am a sponsor of H.F. 1518, which brings provisional ballots to Minnesota to better ensure that it is easy to vote but hard to cheat in Minnesota's elections.
Provisional ballots are mandated by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which indicates, “If an individual declares that such individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction in which the individual desires to vote and that the individual is eligible to vote in an election for Federal office, but the name of the individual does not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote, such individual shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot…”
This law also lays out what actions are required by voters and election officials. Once cast, provisional ballots are stored separately for further verification of the voter’s identity and eligibility. After the identity and eligibility are clarified through the review process, the ballot is counted. If verification cannot be established, the ballot is left uncounted.
This process provides a common-sense mechanism for confirming voters who arrive at the polls on Election Day, but Minnesota has received a waiver from instituting provisional ballots and currently is one of only three states which fails to issue them.
Provisional ballots would provide additional safeguards for our elections and help our state adapt with the times like the other 47 states in our nation have done. It is vital for Minnesotans to have confidence in the security of our elections. Provisional ballots and other measures House Republicans propose would help erase doubt over tactics such as ballot harvesting.
H.F. 1518 also includes measures to prohibit absentee voting compensation and increases penalties for ballot harvesting, the practice of third parties – sometimes paid workers – collecting ballots and delivering them to election offices. Ballot harvesting already is illegal in Minnesota, but this bill steps up the penalty as added disincentive.
The big question is whether House Democrats will take these common-sense solutions seriously and allow the public hearings they deserve to take place during the 2022 session. The foundation of our state relies on the sanctity of our elections and it is our duty as citizens and legislators to ensure an unimpeachable process.
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