Commentary; Posted: 9/5/07
State must improve voting rules for those overseas
By Don Heinzman
A bill that would enable thousands of Minnesotans serving and living in foreign countries to vote in state and federal elections needs to be passed in next year’s legislative session.
Of all the absentee ballots sent to soldiers, spouses and dependents in foreign lands in 2006, fewer than 20 percent were mailed back in time to be counted. Sometimes, mailing the ballot back and forth through the postal service can take up to 45 days.
The holdup is ballots are required to be mailed to the soldiers, signed, and mailed back to the county, city or township. The process, particularly between the primary and general election, takes too long.
According to the director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program of the Department of Defense, over 12,000 uniformed service members and approximately 64,000 overseas citizens claim Minnesota as their voting residence.
The Military Voting Bill, which is backed by Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and many legislators, would allow ballots to be sent to soldiers and other voters in foreign countries by either fax or e-mail.
The soldiers could print the ballot immediately, sign it and mail it back through the U. S. postal service to the county auditor or city and township clerks. This electronic procedure would cut the voting time in half.
Having the ballot mailed through the postal service insures the integrity of the vote. This would not be electronic voting.
Last session both houses passed the Military voting bill, but in the House version it was included in the omnibus state government finance bill.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed the omnibus bill. The military voting portion was reworked into a new bill, which was filibustered by some legislators. Time ran out before it could get a vote.
The Military Voting Bill has seven other provisions. One would allow voters to use write-in ballots for state offices.
Another provision would allow military voters the option of using their state driver’s license number or state ID number on the absentee ballot application.
It also would give the Secretary of State emergency powers to ensure that the armed forces get to vote in case troops are called up at the last minute.
What seems like a good idea ran into opposition. Last session, some legislators insisted only military personnel should be allowed to receive ballots by e-mail, while requiring all other overseas voters to continue to use postal mail.
Gov. Pawlenty also said that limiting the online balloting to just military absentee voting is inconsistent with emergency management laws and procedures applicable under current law or through the courts.
Secretary of State Ritchie says civilian contractors in Iraq, spouses, dependents of military personnel or employees of the State department, missionaries and Peace Corps members should have the same rights to vote as military personnel.
Gov. Pawlenty in his veto letter had reservations about provisions other than the military voting portion. He did object to granting the Secretary of State Emergency powers saying better planning was needed for soldiers to vote when they are redeployed.
District 17B Rep. Jeremy Kalin, DFL-Lindstrom, was the chief author of the Military Voting Bill in the House. He believes the House will examine the Senate bill, tweak the emergency powers position, pass the bill with amendments and get it to the governor’s desk early in the 2008 session.
Sending ballots electronically to be printed and returned by postal service is done by 35 states and territories. Minnesota should be the next state to make voting easier and more effective for overseas Minnesotans, particularly soldiers serving their country.
Forest Lake Times
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