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Proposed Constitutional Amendment on Elections

The proposed amendment will make changes in how we vote, who gets to vote, and in the cost of

elections. Here is the full text of the proposed amendment:

 

“All voters voting in person must present valid government‐issued photographic identification before

receiving a ballot. The state must issue photographic identification at no charge to an eligible voter who does

not have a form of identification meeting the requirements of this section. A voter unable to present

government‐issued photographic identification must be permitted to submit a provisional ballot. A

provisional ballot must only be counted if the voter certifies the provisional ballot in the manner provided by

law. All voters, including those not voting in person, must be subject to substantially equivalent identity and

eligibility verification prior to a ballot being cast or counted.”1 Read the rest of this entry »

Why the proposed Constitutional Amendment would end same-day registration

Currently voters are allowed to register and to cast a ballot at the polling place that is counted with the other ballots.  However, the proposed amendment requires all voters to be subject to “substantially equivalent eligibility verification”.  This would mean that same day registrants could not have a ballot counted until their eligibility had been verified in essentially the same way as pre-registered voters.

Under our current system, when a voter pre-registers to vote their registration information undergoes the following checks: Read the rest of this entry »

Questions on how the proposed constitutional amendment would impact absentee voting by mail, by those voting overseas, and by those voting in mail-ballot precincts:

The proposed amendment states that, “All voters, including those not voting in person, must be subject to substantially equivalent identity and eligibility verification prior to a ballot being cast or counted.”

This means that absentee and mail ballot voters will have to have their identity and eligibility verified in a way equal to that of voters who vote in-person. But how is this possible?   In Minnesota over 210,000 ballots in a presidential year are cast by absentee, mail-in or overseas voters.  This includes the 195,000 Minnesotans who voted absentee by mail, the approximately 11,500 military and overseas voters and the 45,000 registered voters in mail ballot precincts around the state. Read the rest of this entry »