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Ellison wants us all to show up and vote
Minnesota's elections officials -- past and present -- framed a House panel debate on the merits of election-day registration.
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WASHINGTON - Does election-day registration increase cheating or encourage voter turnout?
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison thinks Minnesota's same-day registration explains its top national ranking in voter participation, and has introduced a bill that would make it the law in federal elections coast to coast.
On Friday, he clashed with former Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, who was invited to testify against his bill by Republicans who say it makes it too easy to cheat.
"Anyone who thinks that there is no stealing of votes should go home and next time don't lock their doors or cars," Kiffmeyer told a House subcommittee on elections.
Ellison, a lawyer and member of the panel, said he knows of no prosecutions for voter fraud as a result of same-day registration in Minnesota.
"If the proof of the pudding is in the tasting, Minnesota elections taste pretty good," he said.
Democrats on the panel brought forward academics and other experts, including Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, giving the debate a strong Minnesota flavor.
Ritchie, along with a panel of experts, testified that election-day registration has helped voter turnout in the more than half-dozen states where it is in effect. In Minnesota, 78 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2004 presidential election.
Ritchie called Minnesota's 1973 changeover to same-day registration "a new era in voting rights."
To Ellison, the link between same-day registration and voter turnout was most famously on display in 1998, when thousands of previously unregistered voters flocked to the polls for a chance to elect ex-wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor.
Kiffmeyer offered her own theory for Minnesota's traditionally high voter turnout: "Part of it can be attributed to Minnesota's culture," she said. "We're Germanic, Norwegian, if there's an organization for anybody, we've got it in Minnesota."
Kiffmeyer also challenged the notion that same-day registration increases voter turnout. She provided statistics showing that average voter turnout in Minnesota was 77 percent in the quarter-century before the change, compared with 71 percent since.
Ritchie and others on the panel called that a blip, explained largely by post-Watergate disaffection and the drop in voting age from 21 to 18.
Ellison, noting that Kiffmeyer's conclusions contradicted those of three other experts on the panel, challenged her to explicitly agree or disagree with them on the record. Kiffmeyer demurred, saying she hadn't looked at their research and couldn't "ratify their statements."
Ellison, expressing frustration with Kiffmeyer's non-answer, ran out of time before he could finish his questioning.
The same-day registration bill, a perennial for Ellison's predecessor, Martin Sabo, is expected to be introduced in the Senate soon by Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis.
Kevin Diaz • 202-383-3783
Kevin Diaz • kdiaz@startribune.com
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