Tag Archives: voter fraud

On Election “Cheating” Charge, Scott Jensen Should Be forced To Put Up Or Shut Up

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It’s one thing to lie for political gain.  That happens all the time. But until Donald Trump became a political figure, it was almost unheard of for politicians to incite angry mobs with unsubstantiated calls to jail political opponents. 

But the disease of authoritarianism is contagious.

Recently, the Star Tribune obtained an audio recording documenting GOP gubernatorial nominee Scott Jensen sounding like a whole lot like a dictator.

Speaking April 23 at the Minnesota Third Congressional District Republican organizing convention in Plymouth, Jensen sparked loud cheers from the crowd when he warned that “the hammer’s coming down” on Simon, a DFLer.

“We are not voter suppressors. We have a simple attitude: Make sure that every ballot in the box belongs there. Make sure that it’s easy to vote, hard to cheat, and if you cheat, you’re going to jail,” Jensen said. “And Steve Simon, you maybe better check out to see if you look good in stripes, because you’ve gotten away with too much, too long under [Minnesota Attorney General Keith] Ellison, and the hammer’s coming down.”

Understandably, this Putin-esque moment in a state whose residents can’t stop telling the world how “nice” it is made national news. The audio shows that Jensen is stooping as low it takes to win authoritarian-loving Trump voters who get aroused bellowing “lock him up” about anyone with differing views.

Just because Jensen looks at first glance like a kindly made-for-TV doctor doesn’t mean this isn’t scary stuff. When a politician becomes willing to act like an authoritarian in order to appeal to voters with authoritarian instincts, that politician has become an authoritarian.

At the risk of becoming Secretary of State Simon’s cellmate, I must point out that Trump did lose. In fact, he lost “bigly,” by 7 million popular votes and 74 electoral votes, the largest popular vote loss by an incumbent president since Herbert Hoover. In 2020, Trump lost by the same margin that Trump in 2016 characterized as a “landslide.” Trump’s 2020 loss has been upheld by dozens of Republican election officials and Republican-appointed judges.

Given all of that, what exactly has Simon “gotten away with,” to use Jensen’s vague language? He is simply telling the truth about Trump’s substantial 2020 loss. There are no credible facts indicating any law-breaking by Simon. There is no evidence of mass voter fraud happening under Simon’s watch.

During the worst pandemic in a century, Simon oversaw a state electoral system that produced the best turnout of any state in the nation. The Minnesota Republican party’s standard bearer really thinks he should be jailed for that?

An accusation this baseless and irresponsible should not be shrugged off by political reporters, or treated as a “one and done” story. This is not some innocent gaffe about a harmless issue. Reporters should be following up to demand that Jensen either 1) produce evidence substantiating his allegations and file charges or 2) publicly correct the record and apologize for his outrageous recklessness.

I can already feel the whataboutism coming my way from conservative trolls, so let me add that this standard absolutely should also apply to any Democratic office holder who calls for jailing of opponents without supporting evidence.

While some Democrats have called for jailing Trump and Trump officials, they have done so pointing to a mountain of credible evidence (e.g. a Trump signed hush money check to Stormy, financial documents filed in court indicating manipulation of asset values to commit tax fraud, etc.) and, in many cases, formal investigations and court filings (e.g. the 19 legal actions pending against Trump). With the Simon allegations, nothing of the sort exists.

With an allegation and call to action this dangerous, the guardians of democracy in the fourth estate have an obligation to make Jensen “put up or shut up.”

Think about it this way: If a politician witnessed a rape, carjacking or murder, and could identify the wrongdoers but opted to not to file charges, their refusal would be, quite justifiably, huge news. That politician rightfully would be held accountable for not doing his or her civic duty in order to protect the public from further harm.

On the other hand, if follow-up reporting uncovered that this politician’s version of the alleged violent crime was bogus, that also would and should be banner headline news.

The same should hold true with these allegations of mass voter fraud. Jensen is accusing Simon of destroying the most important thing in our beloved representative democracy — free and fair elections. If someone elected to run elections really did somehow defile America’s democratic crown jewel, he should be punished to the full extent of the law.

But again, where is Jensen’s evidence of that crime? Where are Jensen’s formal charges that can be scrutinized in an independent judicial proceeding? If neither evidence nor charges are forthcoming, where is Jensen’s unambiguous correction and apology?

And finally, and importantly, where is the follow-up reporting that a democracy needs to survive this growing tide of demagoguery and authoritarianism?

To Remain On Top, Minnesota Needs To Up It’s Voting Game

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It’s official.  During the recent 2018 elections, about 64% of Minnesotans voted, including 73% in the third congressional district.  That’s the best rate of voter participation in the nation, a familiar spot for Minnesota.  Local  massage therapists are reporting record-breaking business as smug Minnesotans seek relief following vigorous self back-patting.

Good for us, again. But here are a couple important things we need to do in the next legislative session to up our game, so we can hold onto that top spot.

 

Automatic Voter Registration

First, we need to remove bureaucratic hassles from the voter registration process.

Like most states, Minnesota still has “opt in” voter registration. Under this approach, an eligible voter must proactively find and fill out a voter registration application. It’s a bit of a pain, particularly if you’re a young adult who hasn’t yet built up a tolerance for paperwork or knowledge of the workings of government.

Under the automatic voter registration model that should be adopted in Minnesota, citizens are proactively registered to vote unless they “opt out.”  As of October of this year, 14 states are using various forms of automatic voter registration.

Just as an example, Oregon seems to have a good system. In that state, the DMV automatically shares voter registration-relevant data with the election agency.  When computers determine that age, citizenship and residency requirements have all been met, the election agency mails out a registration notification card.

On the card, the resident has three choices:  a) Choose a party affiliation and mail the card back; b) Check a box on the card to opt out of registration; or c) Do nothing, and after three weeks become automatically registered to vote as “unaffiliated.”  That’s it.  It makes democracy as easy as it should be.

To be sure, being registered to vote obviously doesn’t guarantee participation.  Far from it.  But it at least removes that initial barrier. Whether automatic voter registration leads to more participation or simply makes a needlessly cumbersome process more user-friendly and efficient, Minnesota needs to do this.

Vote By Mail

Second, Minnesota needs to make the process of voting much more convenient.

In a modern society, we can do just about everything without leaving home, such as hold meetings, shop, and fill out government paperwork .  But we still require citizens to leave their homes to vote in person, unless they proactively go to the trouble of securing an absentee ballot. That makes voting more difficult than it needs to be, especially if you’re old, sick, hurt, disabled, in a remote location, or lacking transportation.

We can do better.  In case you’ve missed this news, we have something called a mail system.  That means we can mail all registered voters a ballot, and let them study issues and candidates at home and mail it back at their convenience, within a set election period.

Variously called “vote by mail,” “vote at home,” or “all mail elections,” this is lot like the tried-and-true absentee voting system, with one obvious advantage: You don’t have to request a ballot.

The ballot just arrives in all registered voters’ mail at the beginning of an election period, without having to request it. In terms of convenience, it’s sort of like the difference between having to physically go to a utility office to hand over a payment in person versus having a utility bill mailed to you so you can pay by mail without leaving your home.

If that much convenience is objectionable to you, or you’re one of those many traditionalists, fine, we’ll still have a smaller number of physical locations for some of you holdouts.  Enjoy your time in line.

Vote-by-mail is obviously more convenient than voting in person, and it breaks down barriers to voting. The nonpartisan National Council on State Legislatures (NCSL) notes that research finds “turnout increases by single digits for presidential elections and more in smaller elections.”  That alone is enough reason to make the change.

But wait, there’s more! Vote-by-mail also is about 40 percent cheaper for taxpayers than traditional elections, according to a 2016 Pew study of Colorado’s experience.

Fraud, you ask? All election systems, including the current system, carry the possibility of fraud, as would vote-by-mail. But as the National Vote at Home Coalition (NVAHC) notes:

“Oregon has mailed-out more than 100 million ballots since 2000, with about a dozen cases of proven fraud.” That’s a 0.00000012 percent rate of fraud.”

Importantly, vote by mail also has a huge anti-fraud advantage.  Voting by mail leaves a trackable, auditable paper trail, which cybersecurity experts tell us is the surest way to thwart hacking and ensure election integrity.  In that very important way, vote by mail is much less prone to fraud than the current election system, particularly where voting machines are in use.

As an aside, I wish we could do online voting to save some trees.  But cybersecurity experts say online voting would be too prone to hacking. So vote by mail is the next best thing.

Minnesota legislators don’t like to be trailblazers, but we don’t have to go out on a limb on this one.  Oregon has been successfully using vote by mail this for 18 years, and 22 other states have followed their lead.

So while we Minnesotans are justifiably celebrating our civically engaged selves, we shouldn’t rest on our laurels.  If we want to maintain our top spot and strengthen our democracy, we’re going to need to take these steps to break down more of our remaining barriers to voting.