July 7, 2003
The Honorable Mary Kiffmeyer
Minnesota Secretary of State
180 State Office Building
100 Martin Luther King Boulevard
St. Paul, MN 55155
Dear Secretary Kiffmeyer,
The League of Women Voters of Minnesota (The League) would like to thank you
for inviting us to be part of the process as Minnesota undertakes what will hopefully
be an historic move forward toward more and better voter participation. In
our State Plan Committee meetings, you made it clear that you plan to involve the
members of the Committee in the future and we look forward to a continued and growing
opportunity to work on issues surrounding voting and democracy in Minnesota.
The League certainly hopes to be able to contribute its nearly 100 years of voter
education experience to the work that is being done.
As we have read through the proposed State Plan we see great potential.
But, we also see where there is need for more detail and also the opportunity to
establish collaborative work on important matters facing the state. The following
are points we hope you will consider seriously as you look to create the final version
of the State Plan:
- Section 1.1 discusses voting systems. The League encourages you to
establish an authorized workgroup that would have significant input on this
matter. As you know, there is much educated debate about new voting systems
and what sort of auditing capacity these systems should have. While the
League does not believe that an individual paper confirmation is necessary for
all voting systems, we do want to ensure that all voting systems in Minnesota
have an individual audit capacity for the purposes of recounts and authentication
of elections.
This workgroup should also ensure that:
- any voting systems purchased and implemented by Minnesota have the capacity
to be flexible in the support of varying ballot types (including ranked
and cumulative voting)
- voting systems are tested randomly before, during and after the elections
- the systems will "alert" voters if they have over voted or under voted
and give them an opportunity to fix the ballot
- that the systems are accessible to all; and, that the systems store
multiple copies of information.
- Section 1.2 allows your office to adopt standards to define what constitutes
a vote for each system. The League believes this should also be left to
the above mentioned workgroup and then adopted by the Legislature for any voting
systems not currently in use under Minnesota law. This would ensure that
the system for defining a vote has the backing of all Minnesotans and isn't
open to partisan wrangling in an after-the-fact election scenario. This
group should also be in control of ballot creation, and not leave that to the
voting system manufacturers.
- Section 1.4 discusses the fact that Minnesota is exempt from the provisional
voting requirements because of our election-day registration option. Because
of this, the League feels it unnecessary for your office to create new procedures
to deal with after-hours voting.
- Section 1.5 does not provide specifics on what will be in the required information
to be available on Election Day. This should be defined in the Plan to
ensure that Minnesota knows what to expect when it goes to the polls.
- Section 1.6 and the implementation of a Statewide Voter Registration System
is an extremely important part of the Plan. You have stated that you are
considering creating a workgroup on this issue and The League supports this
position. The workgroup should be authorized to make the decisions necessary
to implement this Registration System making sure that the workgroup considers
things like how to stop individuals from being purged from the voter lists unless
there is an exact match of voter information and ensuring voters can still vote
if they are in the wrong place due to a late change in the polling place, etc.
- Section 3.1 and Voter Education is also an area you have stated you may
create a workgroup. The League again agrees with this decision and supports
the workgroup being overseeing the implementation.
- Section 3.3 training of Election Judges should also have an authorized and
responsible workgroup. This workgroup should not be limited to helping
with training regarding disabilities, but should consider all facets of Election
Judge training and recruitment.
- Section 4.2 allows the your office to create voting systems standards.
The League feels this is an important issue that requires the "buy-in" of the
Legislature. These standards should be either enacted by the Legislature,
or adopted as a formal Administrative Procedure.
- Sections 2.1, 6.3, 8, 10 and 11 encourage the creation of an authorized
and responsible Oversight Committee on the State Plan. This Committee
should help to implement and monitor the ongoing work of the State Plan and
allow for outside accountability of those who are doing the work. This
Committee, as well as the workgroups mentioned above, should not be formed merely
to analyze, identify and clarify the work effort. Rather, they should
be formed and authorized to create and oversee the work of the Plan. This
Plan was created in the interests of Minnesota and no one state office should
have to be responsible for both doing the work and watching for hidden pitfalls.
The League understands that your office and the offices of the many counties,
cities and local governments around the State must carry out the work of the Plan.
However, HAVA provides an unprecedented opportunity to get the many stakeholders
in the process of elections involved in the Plan. From idea generation to
practical rules for implementation, your office has a great pool of knowledge from
which it can get help for this work. The workgroups should be authorized to
do the planning and the Oversight Committee can be there to help ensure that the
work is being carried out effectively and efficiently.
This truly is an historic time for elections in the United States. And,
the League of Women Voters of Minnesota is hopeful that Minnesota's long history
of open, documented elections, fair and expansive voter registration and progressive
thinking regarding election processes will continue to be implemented with this
Plan. Again, we appreciate your asking The League, and others, to join you
in this work. We look forward to seeing the work of HAVA come to fruition
in Minnesota through this State Plan.
Sincerely,
Helen Palmer
LWVMN President
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