---

When you look on a map depicting activity in counties with mail-in balloting in the State of Minnesota, there is a big fat zero over the outline of Chisago County.  Many other counties’ mail-in balloting statistics range up to 70 percent; but even though Chisago had healthy absentee ballot activity in the last election, mail-in simply isn’t used.

The difference is that absentee ballots have to be requested.  Precincts using mail-in voting have a system with verified addresses and automatic processing already in place.  Mail-in is mostly used in outlying areas of the state where population centers are spread far apart and November travel to a polling place might even be treacherous.

With the coronavirus impacting available public sites, and prohibiting close person to person contact-- come the August primary and the November general election, it’s possible that Minnesotans will vote in a manner very different from using traditional polling places.  

A MN House subcommittee on elections held a meeting that was broadcast by Internet last week, and afterwards the Press checked in with the Chisago County Auditor-Treasurer about what’s facing the system and local staff.

Auditor-Treasurer Bridgitte Konrad viewed the MN House Subcommittee on Elections discussion, featuring Secretary of State Steve Simon, and commented that,  “No matter which direction the legislatre goes we need to be prepared...we are starting to gear up for filings next month, so the uncertainties make it difficult, but we are planning for a regular election cycle and will adjust plans as necessary as new direction or  legislation comes down.”

The subcommittee discussed how the need to keep personal distance may be addressed by not opening certain polling places, or consolidating in larger facilities where distance can be maintained.

The House subcommittee reviewed the state taking-over and consolidating certain polling sites and closing ones where distancing was impossible and how that may work.

There is also the added complication that election judges are generally older or retired, and are most at risk of serious health impacts due to coronavirus.  (Wisconsin saw a large exodus of assigned election judges protecting their health, withdrawing from polling sites.)

Absentee voting has more “touchpoints” or steps where the validity of the ballot is verified. Absentee voters can track their ballots (as the version is delivered, accepted, rejected or counted, etc.) Should absentee become a default substitute for mail-in precincts, Konrad said the number of judges needed will increase due to all the extra steps in processing.

“I am concerned about the ability of our cities and townships to be able to recruit enough election judges,” she added.  

The legislative discussion was aimed at identifying wording that should be in a bill to be introduced later but there is no language finalized at this time.  It is the goal of the subcommittee’s chair, Rep. Dehn, to have something  regulating the future ballot system worded out by May 4.

 At this time 130,000 Minnesotans are on a mail-in ballot system.  The MN House was slated to hold a committee hearing on using Help America Vote Act  funds for virus-related expenses this morning, Thursday April 16.  This state government finance division hearing would be broadcast on the capitol’s YouTube channel.

---