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Capitol View®
Tim Pugmire

State House panel looks at online voter registration

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An online voter registration system that is already in use could get approval from Minnesota lawmakers in the coming months.

The House Elections Committee held an interim hearing today on a bill to authorize the procedure that DFL Secretary of State Mark Ritchie launched last fall. Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-Hopkins, the committee chair, said his bill would allow the state to harness technology for the benefit of voters.

“In an era where we all transact so much business on line, from buying gifts to booking airline flights, government should seek to offer the same convenience, and we already do,” Simon said. “You can buy stamps online, you can apply or reapply for your license tabs online, and now I think we should do the same for voting.”

Four Republican lawmakers and two election watchdog groups filed a lawsuit last fall claiming the secretary of state overstepped his authority by launching the system without specific authorization from the Legislature. In a court hearing last month, a lawyer for the state argued that Ritchie had authority under the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act of 2000. A Ramsey County judge is still considering the case.

Simon tried in vain to keep the informational hearing focused on the merits of his bill, rather than the unresolved legal dispute over the system’s creation. A few Republicans on the committee brought it up anyway.

“I just want to express my own personal disappointment that the secretary of state’s office moved forward without legislative approval on this,” said House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown. “This really is the format for people to come in and talk about what their concerns are.”

Daudt and others stressed the need to keep voter data secure.

Despite the court challenge, eligible Minnesotans are currently able to access the system to complete a new registration or make changes to existing registrations. That prompted Rep. Tim Sanders, R-Blaine, to question the need for the hearing or for the bill.

“If the online voter registration system is still up and operational, I don’t really know what we’re doing here,” Sanders said.

Legislators won’t be able to take any action on the measure until after the 2014 session gets underway on Feb. 25.