Voter ID amendment: Minnesota’s version of ‘Papers, please’?

Voters will be voting on more than elected officials this November. They’ll be voting on voting.

An amendment to the Minnesota State Constitution that is slated to appear on the ballot has raised questions on how requiring citizens to provide photo identification will affect the voting process and if it will essentially end same-day voter registration.

Beth Fraser with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office visited Alexandria to address concerns at an election training session presented by the Douglas County Auditor/Treasurer’s office for municipal and school clerks.

“We think it’s important that voters have the opportunity to make an informed decision,” Fraser said.

Requiring photo identification is not the only point of contention. The proposed wording changes to article VII, section 1, of the Minnesota Constitution could be misleading to voters.

Fraser pointed out that the wording “valid government-issued” photo identification limits the types of IDs that are allowed. The House and Senate debated over using “government-issued” or “government-approved.” “Government-issued,” which excludes private college IDs and some veteran IDs, was the victor in the debate.

Fraser said some people have argued that the wording could be interpreted as any government-issued ID – Minnesota government, Canadian government or New Jersey government all could provide an ID that would be “government-issued.”

The amendment will not allow for expired identification since it would no longer be “valid.” The state would be required to issue photographic identification at no charge to eligible voters.

“We did a match between the list of registered voters in the statewide voters’ registration system and the list of people with Minnesota driver’s licenses and state ID cards,” Fraser said. “It looks like about 84,000 currently registered voters don’t appear to have a Minnesota driver’s license or a Minnesota state ID card.”

The Department of Vehicle Services estimates that a total of 140,000 people in Minnesota who are eligible to vote, including those who are registered, do not have state issued identification. Felons and people who are under court-ordered guardianship are not eligible to vote.

As of May 1, 2012, 3,062,182 voters were registered to vote in Minnesota; 22,788 people registered in Douglas County.

Minnesota’s population count after the 2010 census was 5,303,925; 36,009 people resided in Douglas County.

Why the push for photo identification? Voter fraud. Requiring identification prevents people from assuming the identity of a deceased person or an individual who is not a citizen from casting an unauthorized vote.

“I don’t think anyone wants to get rid of verification,” Fraser said.

The new system, if accepted, appears to not allow for the vouching method of confirming identity, Fraser said. Vouching is more common in small communities, like many in Douglas County; it would be up to the election judges to abide by the law and not permit exceptions to the rule.

Currently, seven identity verification checks are done when voters pre-register. Eligibility to vote is done by comparing information given by the voter against data in the Division of Vehicle Services, Social Security Administration, Department of Corrections, courts, Department of Health and United States Post Office databases.

If the amendment is passed, same day registrants could cast a provisional ballot, however that ballot would not be counted until after necessary checks were conducted, which could take a few days.

It is unlikely these checks could be done while the voter waited, since the election judges would need access to restricted databases and the time to conduct each search would be cumbersome.

“Auditors would have to almost immediately upload information,” Fraser said.

A person arriving at the polls without the required government issued photo identification would need to leave their ballot with the election judges and return with identification in a length of time determined by the Legislature, probably between three to 10 days, before the ballot would go to the ballot board. Once the ballot board receives the document, two election judges representing different major political parties will review the form for accuracy.

Any inaccuracy will nullify a ballot – the Secretary of State’s office reported that 4.5 percent of absentee ballots are rejected because of a mistake in filling out the form.

Absentee ballots would also be affected under the amendment, although to what extent is not clear at this time.

The proposed amendment states that: “All voters, including those not voting in person, must be subject to substantially equivalent identity and eligibility verification prior to a ballot being cast or counted.”

More than 210,000 absentee ballots are cast by mail-in or overseas voters in a presidential election year; approximately 11,500 of those voters are military and overseas and 45,000 are registered voters.

Seasonal residents and people who use the Safe at Home post office box in St. Paul also vote absentee.

After a ballot’s eligibility is confirmed, election judges will open each provisional ballot envelope and remove the secrecy envelope. Secrecy envelopes are then opened and the ballots are inserted into an optical scanner to be officially cast.

Results will be reported by precinct. The outcome of all races will not be known until the end of the provisional ballot period.

“The current law says that you can’t release results for a precinct until all results for the precinct are in,” Fraser said. “We might not know anything until the three days, or 10 days, is up. Even if we know something, it’s going to be an incomplete picture.”

ACLU FILES CASE IN SUPREME COURT

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court to challenge the amendment proposal.

Petitioners include, League of Women Voters Minnesota, Common Cause, Jewish Community Action, Gabriel Herbers, Shannon Doty, Gretchen Nickence, John Harper Ritten and Kathryn Ibur.

The ACLU has challenged Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s office to change the wording of the ballot question to “fairly and accurately describe the proposed changes to voters,” according to the petition.

“This ballot proposal is incredibly troubling because it asks voters to put an amendment in the Constitution in a manner that is misleading, confusing and unclear,” said Charles Samuelson, executive director of the ACLU-MN.

Jon Sherman, staff attorney with the ACLU Voting Rights Project, said the amendment would end Election Day registration, which significantly increases turnout.

Voter ID supporters say the lawsuit lacks merit. They say voters should be allowed to vote on the issue.

Protect My Vote, a ballot question committee registered with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, says the popular tradition of Election Day registration will continue as it has since 1973, except it will be improved by the amendment to treat all voters the same.

Oral arguments on the case will be heard on July 17.

The secretary of state’s office has compiled resources to educate voters on the upcoming election and the constitutional amendments that will appear on the 2012 ballot, visit www.mnvotes.org or call (651) 201-1339 for more information.

BALLOT QUESTION

“Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to require all voters to present valid photo identification to vote and to require the state to provide free identification to eligible voters, effective July 1, 2013? Yes ….. No …..”

CURRENT VOTER ELIGIBILITY CHECKS

These checks would need to be conducted before a person could have their ballot counted on Election Day under the proposed amendment.

Does this person exist, have they provided accurate information?

Is the individual serving a felony sentence?

Is the individual a citizen?

Does the voter reside at the address provided?

Has the court revoked the rights of a person under guardianship?

Has the voter moved?

Has the voter died?

Information provided by the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office.

Crystal Dey

Crystal Dey is a staff reporter for the Echo Press. Originally from Minnesota’s Iron Range, Dey worked for newspapers in North Dakota, Florida and Connecticut before returning to her home state to join the Echo Press in October 2011. Dey studied Mass Communications at Minnesota State University Moorhead with an emphasis in Online Journalism. Follow Staff Reporter Crystal Dey on Twitter at @CrystalDey_Echo.

Tags: local news, voter id, secretary of state, news, updates, amendment, election