The case for restoring polling places for Carlton County voters

Early this year, we had problematic elections in State Senate District 11. In Carlton County alone, 400 voters’ ballots mailed to the courthouse were not received by the primary election deadline. And more than 100 mail and absentee ballots arrived too late for the Feb. 5 general election. These special elections were required because Governor Walz appointed the district’s senator, Tony Lourey, as Minnesota’s Commissioner of Human Services. Our election officials — auditor Paul Gassert in the case of Carlton County —followed the law. It required a quick turnaround so our senate seat would not be unoccupied for long when the Legislature convened in late January. That’s when the problems arose.

What happened? Many Carlton County voters are required to vote by mail. Ballots were mailed to voters on Monday and Tuesday the week prior to the election. Many people in the northwestern portion of Carlton County, including my household, did not receive their ballots in the mail until Friday or Saturday. With no mail on Sunday, and Monday as the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, hundreds of people who attempted to vote ended up disenfranchised.

Why is the mail so slow? From our Cromwell post office, for instance, first-class mail now goes to Duluth, where it is then shipped to the Twin Cities area before being forwarded to local post offices in our area. It used to return directly to our post offices from the Duluth mail processing center, which closed in 2015. The advent of email, Facebook, online banking, and competition from FedEx and UPS has undermined the finances of the U.S. Postal Service.

Many smaller communities around the state and country have faced similar mail slowdowns. Last week, the Star Tribune reported on its front page that neighborhoods in Minneapolis are reporting post office deliveries a week and more later than usual. Legislators are considering changing the special election laws to take these slowdowns into account. They should do so.

My husband and I used to vote at the Cromwell-Wright School. Now, even the City of Cromwell requires mail ballots, although you do have the option to drive to the Carlton County courthouse and vote there. Voters in some organized townships, such as Eagle Lake, can vote locally (in the Sno-Gophers building), which is two tenths of a mile from our house! But we, in Cromwell, have no option but to vote by mail.

Some folks prefer mail-in ballots. It’s good for people who can’t get to the polls easily: invalids, elderly people, those working temporarily away from the community or out of town. Any registered voter can request an absentee ballot for any election, though Gassert confirmed that many out of state in the winter or on business travel would not have been able to return their ballots in time for these elections.

In our case, and for many others I’ve spoken with, we prefer a live polling place. Why? For several reasons. I like entering the polling place and finding that trained election judges are running the show. They do so fairly and with transparency. They answer questions and treat everyone with respect. Partisan poll watchers help ensure there is no monkey business. People who need assistance (if the voter has poor eyesight or language issues, or if there is confusion about offices, e.g.) can request help or bring someone into the voting booth with them.

Above all, the privacy of the voting booth offers every voter what we’re entitled to — secret ballots. Most of us know that in some households, especially since you must ask someone to witness the ballot (often a spouse or household member), one may intimidate the other into voting his or her preferences. What if the person who picks up and delivers your rural mail knows how you vote (by seeing your yard signs, for example, or reading this column) and decides to toss it into the trash? Most of us never verify that our ballots arrived at the courthouse.

By the way, even if your vote wasn’t counted, you did get voting credit for returning a “late” ballot. This is important, because if you haven’t voted for four years, the state will purge you from the registered voters list. Voters, beware!

Recently, we’ve witnessed some major voter fraud with mail-in ballots. Last month in North Carolina, four people were arrested for fraudulently collecting and submitting absentee ballots in a low-income, southeastern area of that state during both the 2018 primary and 2016 general elections.

Auditor Gassert told me last week that it would be neither a major problem, nor costly, to restore polling place options for all Carlton County voters. Thinly populated townships (such as Red Clover, Eagle, Corona Townships), could combine for on-site voting in one place. The county currently supplies election equipment, training of election judges, publication of notices, ballot preparation, and vote counting and recording. Some organized townships, such as Eagle Lake, pay for rental space and their own election judges. Gassert estimates that restoring the local site option would be relatively inexpensive. I think there would be a negligible increase in property taxes for the average household, if any.

If we want to return to live polling places, we must let our county commissioners and township leaders know our preference. We can offer to help identify possible polling venues with good access and parking, as well as suggest people willing to be trained as election officials. I, for one, volunteer!

Finally, if you want to know if your recent votes were counted, Auditor Gassert will be able to confirm if you personally go to the Carlton County Courthouse to inquire.

Ann Markusen is an economist and professor emerita at University of Minnesota. A Pine Knot board member, she lives in Red Clover Township north of Cromwell with her husband, Rod Walli.