Senator Linda Higgins articled about HAVA

      The Aug. 24 meeting of the Senate Elections Committee provided yet another opportunity for Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer to explain her office’s position on the critical changes to Minnesota’s voting system.

      As the self-proclaimed chief elections officer, Ms. Kiffmeyer should be in the unique position of answering the concerns of Minnesota voters and the committee’s questions and concerns, yet she continues to excuse herself from the public debate.

      Numerous counties and voter education groups have reported problems with the new system, which is being implemented in accordance with new federal guidelines of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). These changes are meant to provide a better voting system which will ensure that every vote is counted.

      However, over 40 states applied for and received waivers for implementation of the HAVA system, fearing that there was not adequate time to work out the glitches in the program in this critical election year.

      Secretary of State Kiffmeyer decided not to apply for a waiver, with no explanation provided to the public or the legislature regarding her rationale.

      In accordance with HAVA, one of the necessary changes was the development of a new voter registration card. The Secretary of State created a card which is difficult to read and problematic when trying to verify a voter’s identification.

      Ten counties (including Hennepin, Ramsey and Anoka) developed an alternate card when it was promised by the Secretary of State’s office that as long as the alternate card is HAVA-compliant it would be approved. Kiffmeyer broke her promise when she denied the card based solely on the reason that there was no need for multiple cards.

      Our chief elections officer certified her new voter registration system on June 29, signing an affidavit that the system was ready for the November election. This was another broken promise. The system has failed to function in recent special elections, including a Senate District 37 election, where the HAVA system randomly selected 20,000 names off the voter list, leaving all other registered voters in the position of not being registered during their election at the polls.

      In fact, Republican State Rep. Tony Cornish was one individual left off the voter file when he tried to participate in a special election this summer in Blue Earth County.

      In order to hide some of the problems of the system, Kiffmeyer ordered a stress test last Friday. The test was to be completed on Monday, Aug. 23, leaving Minnesota’s 87 counties with less than eight business hours to prepare. They could not produce enough of a workload to adequately test the capability of the new system.

      Secretary of State Kiffmeyer is leaving many Minnesotans with a sense of dread at the upcoming election. With a system functioning poorly at best, we envision long lines at the polls, and an absentee ballot process that was not operational at the time it was certified.

      Our 7,000 troops from Minnesota stationed overseas should be concerned about their vote. We are looking at the tragedy of troops fighting for our freedom, and due to poor planning by our chief elections officer, unable to vote in this critical election.

      State Senator Linda Higgins 328 State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155- 1606 E-mail: sen.linda.higgins@senate.mn Phone: (651) 296-9246 August 31, 2004.