More work needed to protect elections

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Minnesota voters, candidates and election workers should pause a moment and congratulate themselves on a job well done. Preliminary results show the state had the second-highest turnout in the nation (coming in just a hair behind Maine) and with a minimum of drama.

No conflict at polling places. No last-minute legal wrangling. Ballot counting proceeded normally. Candidates who lost conceded their races (some took a little longer than others). Smart strategies were employed. For example, Chisago City had a local referendum that pushed its ballot to two full pages, and long lines ensued. Extra equipment was brought in. People waited patiently, and everyone voted.

Despite all the unfounded claims to the contrary, Minnesota remains a national leader in elections that feature high turnout along with a secure system that ensures ballot integrity.

"That's our tradition in Minnesota," Secretary of State Steve Simon, who won re-election last week, told an editorial writer. "It's good to see."

A calm, efficient election is something we may never take for granted again after the chaos, drama and dysfunction of the 2020 presidential race and efforts that continued to mark this year's campaigns. Simon's Republican rival, Kim Crockett, in 2022 was still calling the 2020 election "rigged," while her husband was urging sheriff's deputies to form poll-watching SWAT teams, which would be a clear violation of election law.

Fortunately, voters saw past Crockett and a slew of election-denying secretary of state candidates in swing states, all of whom lost. In doing so, Minnesotans voted no to conspiracy theories, no to unfounded allegations. And Minnesota was far from alone.

Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a bipartisan, postelection panel that, "I believe that most people are good … . That's what we just saw. The good people raised up, they got out, they voted and what they voted for — they voted for normalcy."

But there is still more that can be done, both in Minnesota and nationally.

One Minnesota practice that other states may want to emulate: a seven-day head start that gives election officials time to begin processing absentee ballots. "It seems like a very technical, administrative thing," Simon said, "but it puts us in a very good place." Included in that is "curing" ballots where necessary. "If I send in an absentee ballot and I did something wrong," he said, "election officials have a duty to 'cure,' to allow me the opportunity to fix it."

Arizona and Nevada undertake this curing period after polls close, he said. The resulting delays then can be exploited with complaints of "vote dumps." In reality, Simon said, "It has nothing to do with dumping. It's just processing and counting. We do all of that before, which we think is much better."

Simon also said that "at the top of our list" is seeking additional state funds to fully cover election costs. In 2020 his office accepted outside grants for that purpose. Such donations are legal, but to avoid any perception of conflict of interest, it is far better for government to bear the total cost of conducting elections.

Another vitally needed change: enhanced penalties for interfering with, harassing, intimidating or threatening election officials. Colorado's Election Protection Act, adopted earlier this year, makes such actions a crime and gives election workers greater protections against "doxing," the release of such information as home addresses or other private information used to facilitate harassment.

Election workers here and across the country have been subjected to vile threats, stalking and other harassing behaviors. Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, introduced a bill in the last legislative session that would offer similar protections.

"Every election cycle, 30,000 of our friends and neighbors, in every community in our state, pitch in to help staff our polling places and run our elections," Greenman said when the bill was introduced. "These are the Minnesotans that make our democracy work by doing the apolitical work of conducting free and fair elections." Increasingly, she said, "that work has made them targets."

The incoming Legislature should quickly adopt a Minnesota election worker protection act well in advance of the 2024 elections.

Another reform that could boost voter participation would follow the lead of 20 states that now automatically enroll eligible voters who interact with a government agency, such as a motor vehicles department, unless they opt out. Since 1993, states including Minnesota have allowed voters the chance to register when they get or renew a driver's license or state identification card, known as an opt-in system.

Simon said moving to an opt-out system could reduce the need for same-day voter registration by an estimated 80%. Same-day registration has been controversial for Republicans since its inception.

It's up to Minnesota to prove that 2020 was an anomaly. Taking a few simple steps to enhance our election process could make a return to normalcy more permanent.