Can Winona County turn around its lagging voter turnout? These people are working to do that

On a recent afternoon, Rae Peter was going door to door in a Winona neighborhood, holding a smartphone. They were logged into an app showing households where someone is either not registered to vote or hasn’t voted in a long time. 

Finding those people at home was a bit of a challenge, said Peter, who was working on behalf of an organization called Minnesota Voice.

“So far, I think I’ve registered about five people, which is always really fulfilling, because they’re like, ‘Oh, this is just so much weight off my shoulders. Now I just have to show up,’ which is great,” Peter said.

In 2020, the last presidential election, Winona County’s 67.3 percent turnout was the lowest among southeastern Minnesota counties and far below the 81.6 percent statewide figure. Neighboring Olmsted, Houston, Filmore and Wabasha counties all were right around 80 percent or higher.

And in 2022, Winona County also had low turnout relative to other counties.

A number of groups in the community are organizing in an effort to remedy this, as early voting starts Friday across the state. 

“Winona does not see itself as a city that has poor turnout,” said Dan Wilson. He’s deeply involved in voter registration efforts, including one called Engage Winona, a nonprofit civic organization.

The group recently hosted a block party where, in addition to eating hotdogs playing yard games and having water balloon fights, attendees could get instruction on voter registration.

Kassi Klinger with the League of Women Voters, was helping with those efforts. She said many people tell her they’re not registered because they lack knowledge about who’s running for office.

“They just don't want to vote because they don't know enough about it,” she said. “So that's why we host the forums, just to try and get the information out there.”

Dan Wilson started thinking more about voter turnout after his unsuccessful campaign for a state Senate seat four years ago. He expressed optimism that Winona County can reverse its low turnout.

“The statistics show, when you spend the time and the money to work on these problems, you can fix these problems,” he said. “They’re very easy, they’re very solvable, and a lot of communities across the state have done it.”

Wilson said turning the numbers around starts at doorsteps and community gatherings, like the block party.

“Those kinds of social ties tie people to the community, and they make it more likely that people are going to vote,” said Dan Myers, a political scientist with the University of Minnesota. “They give people access to civic resources that help them figure out how to participate in politics and also motivate them to participate in politics.”

Myers said it’s harder to argue it’s a government by the people for the people when voters stay home.

As Rae Peter knocked on doors to ferret out potential voters to register, she found there was almost a sense of relief when people learned they were with a non-partisan group, not pushing a particular campaign or candidate, at a time when politics are so divisive.

At one home, Winona resident Steph Peterson waxed nostalgic to Peter about the bygone era when people could civilly disagree with each other.

“Somebody would have one sign in their yard, and somebody else would have another yard sign in the yard and everybody got along, and you still borrowed things from your neighbor and sat by them in church,” she told Peter. “And you didn’t hate each other.’”

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