Who Has Two Thumbs and Likes Voting?

This guy!

It's true, I love voting. I love doing my civic duty. It makes me feel all accomplished and proud to be an American. (I am not however proud that whenever I say I'm proud to be an American, I hear Lee Greenwood singing "God Bless the U.S.A." in my head. I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm freeeeeeeee.)

Over the last couple weeks, Andy and I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our mail ballots. Because our county is so rural, the county made a switch to mail ballots for all residents except those who live immediately in the county seat long before I started voting. It's a pretty handy system. We get our ballots a couple weeks before the election, have the ballots witnessed by another registered MN voter (or a notary) and then make sure the ballots are mailed in by election day. It's a system that makes it really easy to participate in the democratic system (and shouldn't a democratic system be easy to participate in if it's to function properly?) and as far as I can tell, it's almost impossible to commit voter fraud since you only get one ballot per registered voter. I suppose I could show up at an actual polling station and try to vote again, but honestly, voting once enough for this gal.

I filled out my ballot last night and today my ballot will be winging its way down to the courthouse to be opened and counted on election day. There are a lot of issues and races on the 2012 ballot that I care passionately about, but there's one particular ballot question that's really got my teeth on edge:

"Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to require all voters to present valid photo identification to vote and to require the state to provide free identification to eligible voters, effective July 1, 2013?" 

Let's look at this carefully. On the surface, this looks pretty reasonable. Benign, even.

I mean, I'm a U.S. citizen and I have a photo id, so this shouldn't affect me at all. But wait a minute, when I cast my vote last night, I didn't show a photo id to anyone. I show Andy my blank ballot, I filled out the ballot privately, and then Andy witnessed it.

If this amendment passes, it could mean the end of mail ballots. It could mean that I have to show up at a polling station on election day to cast my vote. Let's consider that the nearest polling station to me is 55 miles away. Let's also remember that early November is not exactly known for sterling weather. In future years, if this amendment passes and if we happened to have a massive snow storm on election day, there's a good chance that I won't cast my vote that year.

Allow me to toot my horn for a little bit here to illustrate my point:

• I have a college education.
• I have voted in every election since I became eligible. (Except for this year's primaries, which caught me by surprise - why so early with the primaries this year Minnesota?)
• I have watched the Republican nomination process from the get-go, listened to both the Democratic and Republican conventions, and have listened to every presidential debate this year. 
• I am not a felon. 
• I wouldn't know how to commit voter fraud even if I wanted to commit some.

As a state, we should not be making it harder for voters like me to vote. We should not be making it harder for minorities and seniors to vote. If anything, we should be making it easier for people to vote. This is America after all, where we value everyone's voice. Right? Right?!

The biggest issue I have with this potential constitution amendment is that we have absolutely no idea what ramifications would come with passing of this amendment. We don't know if it would mean the end of mail ballots. We don't know if the county would have to spend funds they don't really have to construct more polling stations - which would have to have handicapped bathrooms and various other amenities to make them legal polling stations. We're not even sure what constitutes a valid photo id. All we know is that we'd have to show id before we vote, but we don't even know how we'd have to show voter id.

As Mary Jane Morrison, a Hamline Law Professor, said about this amendment, "This deserves an F."

Proponents of this bill say it will cut down on voter fraud. But I've yet to hear any terribly compelling numbers and arguments about voter fraud in Minnesota.   

If you ask me, this has more to do with Republicans consistently losing elections by itty bitty margins (i.e. Coleman vs. Franken, Emmer vs. Dayton) then it does about cracking down on voter fraud. Heck, if the Republicans just get rid of a few hundred voters by passing this amendment, maybe the votes in these tight races will start tipping in their favor. 

Cynical, much?

But this shouldn't be a partisan issue. This is an issue that will effect every voter in Minnesota. And if you have two thumbs and like voting, please consider this amendment carefully before voting. This is a very vague amendment that could have negative repercussions for all of us. 


   

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Crying Over A Lost Ballot

I’ve been voting since the Kerry/Bush days, which means I’ve voted in the past three elections, plus one special election as well as this year’s contest. Hmmm, that doesn’t sound quite as impressive as I might have liked. . . . The point is, I take voting seriously.

By the time I reached voting age, mail-in ballots had become standard practice. Over the last six years, I’ve grown accustomed to tracking down another registered MN voter to glance over my blank ballot and then sign the ballot’s envelope before mailing it off to the courthouse after I've voted. While I spend a fair amount pondering who to vote for, the actual voting has always been a pretty painless, no-brainer process.

So on Thursday evening, I decided the time had come to cast my vote. I’d heard enough of the 20+ debates with the three gubernatorial candidates to feel I'd reached an informed decision. I went to my desk to grab my ballot and black ink pen and I couldn’t find my ballot.

Frantic searching ensues.  

Two phone calls to various parental units later and I still hadn’t unearthed the ballot. Andy had gotten in on the search and he couldn’t find it either. Then the tears started.

They say not to cry over spilt milk, but they didn’t mention anything about lost ballots. Normally, I probably wouldn’t cry over a lost ballot. But the missing ballot was the culmination of a frustrating week spent running around, laboring over tasks in a 53 F degree stone building and losing plenty of other things beside the ballot. On Thursday night, the missing ballot was the last straw. The last thing I needed was to have to drive 55 miles into town on Tuesday to vote just because I’d lost my ballot.

Things often look better in the morning and on Friday morning I discovered my ballot hiding in the depths of my computer bag. I grabbed my black pen and filled in all the appropriate bubbles. Andy signed the envelope and my ballot went off with the mail.

Now, was that really worth crying about?

I’m inclined to think it was. While it’s great to live in a country where we can decide whether or not we’re going vote, I do feel that choosing not to vote is not a real great decision. Voting is an integral part of being a citizen of the United States. And after an election season as zoo-ey as this one has been, I felt it was important to cast my vote and do my part in “getting it over with.”

Do I care who you vote for this election season? Of course I do. But the choice that is most important every election is not the choice you’ll mark on the ballot, but the choice you’ll make to mark the ballot. No matter how long your “to-do” list is today, make sure voting’s at the top of that list.

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