REGIONAL— Secretary of State Steve Simon had a busy agenda during a trip to both ends of the Iron Range this week and he had a lot to talk about with local political and business leaders.
While other major issues dominated the news coverage during the recently completed legislative session, lawmakers also approved some of the most significant changes in decades to the state’s election laws and Simon was excited to talk about them.
“It was a once-in-a-generation session for democracy reform,” said Simon during a Tuesday phone interview with the Timberjay. Simon rarely misses an opportunity to tout Minnesota’s status as the state with the nation’s highest voter turnout election after election and he said many of the changes enacted this session will help to continue that strong performance.
Some of the changes include an update to the state’s so-called motor-voter law, which will now automatically register new drivers to vote, assuming they meet all the other requirements.
Simon said the change will improve access for voters as well as increase security by providing additional opportunity for screening new registrants. “This will get people into the system many months earlier than otherwise, allowing more time to do the necessary screening,” he said. “It will make our voter rolls more accurate.”
Another change will allow 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister, even though they still won’t be able to vote until they reach 18. Simon said that provision has been deployed in other states and has been shown to increase the participation of young voters. He said a friend of his, a conservative secretary of state in Louisiana, had sent a letter to Minnesota lawmakers touting the change, which that southern state had implemented some years earlier.
“All of these reforms, they are non-partisan in origin and in effect,” said Simon. They have been implemented in red states and blue states.”
Other changes to the law include:
 Restoring voting rights to offenders once they have been released from a correctional facility, assuming they meet all the other qualifications for voting. He said studies have shown that offenders are less likely to reoffend if they’re given more of a political voice, such as through voting.
 Allowing voters to sign up for permanent absentee balloting. In the past, voters have had to apply for each election.
 Adding protections for election workers to provide greater protection against harassment.
Simon said he expects that the changes will continue to provide Minnesota an edge in voter turnout, compared to other states.
Simon said the new laws are an effort to balance the right of access for voters with the need for voting security and he thinks Minnesota has gotten that balance right. “I think the high voter turnout in Minnesota is evidence of a high level of confidence,” he said, even while acknowledging the impact of misinformation about election security voiced by some political actors.
Meetings on Vermilion Reservation
While Simon was on the Mesabi Range on Tuesday, he was in the Lake Vermilion area on Wednesday, where he met with union pipefitters at Fortune Bay as well as with the Bois Forte Tribal Council.
Simon was talking to tribal leaders about changes in absentee voting locations that should make it easier for band members to vote. They were also set to discuss the theme of next year’s Minnesota Legislative Manual, which is produced every biennium by the Secretary of State’s office. Simon said the theme of next year’s book will be a recognition of the 100th anniversary of passage of the Indian Citizenship Act by Congress. That federal law recognized all Native Americans born in the U.S. as rightful citizens. The act, however, did not provide a right to vote, which was governed by state laws. Some states continued to prohibit Native Americans from voting as late as 1957.
Simon will also be consulting with tribal officials on planned changes to the state seal of Minnesota, which is under the jurisdiction of Simon’s office. The state seal has been widely criticized for its depiction of Native Americans, however Simon said not all tribal officials feel the same way about the issue.
In the recent legislative session, lawmakers established a commission to look at a redesign of the state seal to bring it more in line with modern sensibilities. “The seal could stand some significant modernization,” said Simon. “I’ve been consulting with all the tribal governments on that issue.”