Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon unveiled legislation Wednesday to expand mail-in voting and reduce in-person polling places during the coronavirus pandemic, which could stretch into the summer and fall elections.
Simon's proposal, presented during a virtual meeting of the Minnesota House Subcommittee on Elections, would make "temporary, one-time" changes that would automatically send registered voters mail-in ballots and allow extra time for election administrators to process the votes. Simon said the changes would be in effect only during the peacetime state of emergency declared by Gov. Tim Walz and that witnesses would be required for voting in order to combat fraud.
Similar mail-in ballot initiatives have been resisted by Republicans at the state and national level, including in Wisconsin, where thousands of voters spent hours in line outside polling places Tuesday.
Simon framed his proposal as a public health measure meant to avoid what he described as Tuesday's "disaster" in Minnesota's neighboring state.
"After talking with elections professionals from all levels of government throughout the state, the goal became very clear to me: We need to minimize exposure at polling places and maximize voting by mail," Simon said in a statement.
Simon's plan would change the location of some polling places, many of which are in vulnerable locations such as senior care facilities. On Wednesday, Simon said about 43 polling places were centered in senior living high-rises, nursing homes and care facilities.
Under the proposal, Simon's office also would accept candidate filings by e-mail, fax, or U.S. mail instead of in person. Ballot-access petitions could be submitted with digital signatures.
"I hope we can all rise to the moment," Simon said. "People will look back at this time and wonder what we did to make things better — and whether we put others before ourselves and our own interests. Now we need to look to solutions that match the scope and scale of the problem."
