Minnesota GOP, DFL legislators offer competing visions for absentee voting

The 2020 election is shaping dueling visions for new voting laws as the Legislature aims to resolve competing GOP Senate and DFL House bills in the last two weeks of the session.

Republicans are proposing changes to how absentee ballots are received and counted, while Democrats want to make permanent certain changes put in place to adjust to the pandemic during the last statewide election.

"Our focus was on transparency and security," state Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, said before the Senate passed a sweeping supplemental funding bill this month that includes a series of voting bills she sponsored.

A longtime GOP priority to require photo identification to vote in Minnesota also passed the Senate last year, although it is unlikely to muster much, if any, support from Democrats who believe it would suppress voter turnout. Republican candidates for statewide offices have often called for voter ID legislation this year.

House Democrats, in their election law proposals, want to impose new civil penalties for intimidating or threatening election workers, painting it as a necessary response to a rise in harassment brought on by the discord over the 2020 vote.

"Amidst a troubling rise in the demonization, intimidation, and downright threats directed at election officials, Democrats in the Minnesota House are taking action to protect the individuals who make sure our elections are administered with integrity and accuracy," DFL House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, who is running for Hennepin County attorney, said in a statement after the House cleared that and other voting law proposals last month. "We will not allow unfounded allegations or conspiracy theories to tarnish Minnesota's best-in-the-nation elections system."

The Senate GOP proposals include allowing political parties or nonpartisan candidates to appoint "ballot board observers" to watch the handling of ballots. Republicans are also proposing livestreaming footage of ballot board activity and absentee ballot drop boxes.

Secretary of State Steve Simon, a DFLer, is a vocal opponent of such measures. Like Winkler, he argued that the GOP proposals "seem to be inspired by conspiracy theories and disinformation."

"Those largely introduce unnecessary or invasive procedures into processes that we already know are secure," Simon said.

A further measure to add watermarks on ballot paper "would do nothing but add cost to a system that has numerous other security measures in place," he added.

Kiffmeyer, a former secretary of state, wants both same-day and absentee ballot results to be reported together on election night. Simon's office provided regular updates on absentee ballot results in the days after Election Day 2020 as the ballots were being processed following an unprecedented surge in early voting. Kiffmeyer said the process "caused a great deal of confusion among the general public."

The House DFL proposals include allowing absentee ballots to be counted 14 days before an election rather than the seven required under current law. The Legislature passed a temporary extension during the pandemic in 2020 and Democrats want to make that permanent.

The DFL bill would free up an additional $1 million in federal election security money by allocating the required $200,000 from the state to access the federal dollars.

With the Jan. 6 insurrection and ensuing threats and intimidation levied at election workers across the country, Simon called the push for new penalties for such actions a "critical safeguard that I wish we didn't need."

"But we do need it; keeping nonpartisan election workers safe from intimidation and harassment is crucial for our democracy," said Simon, who himself has been the target of threats on his life by those who questioned the validity of the 2020 election results.

Simon also supports new language proposed for absentee ballot application envelopes that he said could cut down on confusion as more voters decide to cast their ballots before Election Day. Minnesota shattered its all-time record for early voting when it accepted 1.9 million absentee ballots in 2020.

"There are some proposals that help voters and make elections more efficient: The 14-day 'head start' for absentee ballot processing would be great for counties, especially as more and more voters choose to vote early," Simon said.